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WALTER BENJAMIN VS CARL SCHMITT GIORGIO AGAMBEN INTENSIFIES THE DEBATE ON THE STATE OF EXCEPTION

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11 Pages : 88-93

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/glsr.2022(VII-II).11      10.31703/glsr.2022(VII-II).11      Published : Jun 2022

Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception

Abstract

    In his book State of Exception, Giorgio Agamben seeks to build a public law theory of the state of exception. The concept is in its evolution for a century now. The initial philosophical debate on it, an explicit one,took between Carl Schmitt and Hans Kelsen. Apart from it, according to Agamben, an implicit debate between Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt. Excavating and analyzing this debate, Agamben demonstrates that Benjaminsubverts Schmitt's effort to justify and rationalize exceptions to (the rule of) law. While Agamben Agamben'sreenactment of the debate between Benjamin and Schmitt is illuminating and valuable for conceptual purposes, Iargue in this essay, by engaging a textual analysis approach, that his highlighted juxtapositions are asymmetric,the arguments are reiterative, and the dialogic ends up in ambiguity.

    State of Exception, Giorgio Agamben, Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, Dialectics, Walter Benjamin

    (1) Syed Sami Raza
    Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for India and South Asian Center (CISA), University of California Los Angeles, United States
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References

  • Agamben, G. (2005). State of Exception. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp 55; 56.
  • Schmitt, C. (2005). Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 7-22.
  • Zizek, S. (2008). Violence. Picador. Pp 202.

Cite this article

APA

CHICAGO

    CHICAGO : Raza, Syed Sami. 2022. "Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception." Global Legal Studies Review, VII (II): 88-93 doi: 10.31703/glsr.2022(VII-II).11

HARVARD

    HARVARD : RAZA, S. S. 2022. Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception. Global Legal Studies Review, VII, 88-93.

MHRA

    MHRA : Raza, Syed Sami. 2022. "Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception." Global Legal Studies Review, VII: 88-93

MLA

    MLA : Raza, Syed Sami. "Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception." Global Legal Studies Review, VII.II (2022): 88-93 Print.

OXFORD

    OXFORD : Raza, Syed Sami (2022), "Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception", Global Legal Studies Review, VII (II), 88-93

TURABIAN

    TURABIAN : Raza, Syed Sami. "Walter Benjamin vs. Carl Schmitt: Giorgio Agamben Intensifies the Debate on the State of Exception." Global Legal Studies Review VII, no. II (2022): 88-93. https://doi.org/10.31703/glsr.2022(VII-II).11