The hyper-hermeneutic gesture of a subtle revolution

Frost, Tom (2013) The hyper-hermeneutic gesture of a subtle revolution. Critical Horizons, 14 (1). pp. 70-92. ISSN 1568-5160

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Abstract

Drawing upon the thought of Giorgio Agamben, this essay focuses upon the potential of a single act to change a political order. Agamben’s writings retain the possibility for a paradigmatic gesture that opens a space for a politics not founded on a form of belonging grounded in a particular property, such as national identity. To illustrate this event this essay turns to Agamben’s construction of whatever-being, which is constructed hyper-hermeneutically. This term is chosen deliberately. Whatever-being retains a hermeneutic structure, but is constructed through singular paradigmatic examples. These examples are evidence for whatever-being’s existence as a pure singularity, unable to be reduced to a particular quality. Such examples are gestures that allow future modes of belonging to separate themselves from oppressive foundations and dominating constructions of political existence, through revealing the possibility of a new way of being that does not require a revolutionary “zero hour” to be brought about.

Item Type: Article
Schools and Departments: School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
Subjects: K Law
Depositing User: Thomas Frost
Date Deposited: 24 Oct 2013 10:06
Last Modified: 13 Mar 2017 10:54
URI: http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/46799

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