The biopolitics of ‘Italian theory’ and ‘community’ discourses: Focusing on Agamben and Esposito

Abstract

Esposito’s “immune paradigm” and Agamben’s concepts of “Homo sacer” and “biosecurity” have gained increasing attention in the wake of the coronavirus 2019 pandemic. The biopolitics presented by these Italian philosophers has been discussed actively on a global scale and not merely in the Italian context. This study aims to examine whether Agamben and Esposito’s discourse on community can be universalized. Agamben and Esposito represent the individuality and non-mainstreamness of Italian philosophy, called “Italian theory,” which Negri visualized in The Italian Difference in 2005. This is different from the so-called European universal philosophy. To this end, this study examines the individuality and non-mainstreamness of Italian philosophy in the construction of modern philosophy as well as the boundaries and characteristics of what is now known as “Italian theory.” It further discusses the ways in which Agamben and Esposito’s collective discourse, which represents it, has been discussed on a global scale.