Persons And Things: From The Body's Point Of View (theory Redux)
by Roberto Esposito /
2015 / English / PDF
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What is the relationship between persons and things? And how does
the body transform this relationship? In this highly original new
book, Roberto Esposito - one of Italy’s leading political
philosophers - considers these questions and shows that starting
from the body, rather than from the thing or the person, can help
us to reconsider the status of both.
What is the relationship between persons and things? And how does
the body transform this relationship? In this highly original new
book, Roberto Esposito - one of Italy’s leading political
philosophers - considers these questions and shows that starting
from the body, rather than from the thing or the person, can help
us to reconsider the status of both.
Ever since its beginnings, our civilization has been based on a
strict, unequivocal distinction between persons and things,
founded on the instrumental domination of persons over things.
This opposition arose out of ancient Roman law and persisted
throughout modernity, to take its place in our current global
market, where it continues to generate growing contradictions.
Although the distinction seems to appear clear and necessary to
us, what we are continually witnessing in legal, economic, and
technological practice is a reversal of perspectives: some
categories of persons are becoming assimilated with things, while
some types of things are taking on a personal profile.
Ever since its beginnings, our civilization has been based on a
strict, unequivocal distinction between persons and things,
founded on the instrumental domination of persons over things.
This opposition arose out of ancient Roman law and persisted
throughout modernity, to take its place in our current global
market, where it continues to generate growing contradictions.
Although the distinction seems to appear clear and necessary to
us, what we are continually witnessing in legal, economic, and
technological practice is a reversal of perspectives: some
categories of persons are becoming assimilated with things, while
some types of things are taking on a personal profile.
With his customary rigour, Roberto Esposito argues that there
exists an escape route out of this paradox, constituted by a new
point of view founded in the body. Neither a person nor a thing,
the human body becomes the decisive element in rethinking the
concepts and values that govern our philosophical, legal, and
political lexicons.
With his customary rigour, Roberto Esposito argues that there
exists an escape route out of this paradox, constituted by a new
point of view founded in the body. Neither a person nor a thing,
the human body becomes the decisive element in rethinking the
concepts and values that govern our philosophical, legal, and
political lexicons.