Wspólnota, immunizacja, życie – o filozofii politycznej Roberta Esposita

Abstract

Community, Immunization, Life – On the Political Philosophy of Roberto Esposito

The article aims to present and to problematize the political philosophy of a representative of the reviving Italian thought – Roberto Esposito. The most fundamental question is his original understanding of the concept of the community. Its meaning, which is derived from Latin communitas, bases on a particular combination of gift, office and obligation. Such an understanding of the term is radically opposed to the all conceptualisations of the social contract: the community is rather a deprivation and a suppression of what is individual than a rationally chosen and additionally possessed form of one’s own existence. As a counterweight to the risk of the common, the logic of immunization (exception to the gift‑giving obligation) is portrayed. Last two parts focus on the issue of biopolitics. Using the reflections of Foucault, Derrida, Agamben, Deleuze & Guattari, Negri & Hardt as a theoretical background, the stance of Esposito is derived: his interpretations of both Nazism (thanatopolitics) and natalism are confronted. Thus, the possibility of the community positively immunized could be sketched.