THE USE OF BODIES

Giorgio Agamben's "Homo Sacer" was one of the seminal works of political philoso
phy in recent decades. It was also the beginning of a series of interconnected i
nvestigations of staggering ambition and scope, investigating the deepest founda
tions of Western politics and thought.

"The Use of Bodies" represents the nint
h and final volume in this twenty-year undertaking, breaking considerable new gr
ound while clarifying the stakes and implications of the project as a whole. It
comprises three major sections. The first uses Aristotle's discussion of slavery
as a starting point for radically rethinking notions of selfhood; the second ca
lls for a complete reworking of Western ontology; and the third explores the eni
gmatic concept of "form-of-life," which is in many ways the motivating force beh
ind the entire "Homo Sacer" project.