Unattainable humanity: notes to Giorgio Agamben’s The Human Voice

Carlo Salzani; Ermanno Castanò

doi:10.53981/destrocos.v6i2.56590

Authors

Carlo Salzani Messerli Research Institute, Vienna, Austria
Ermanno Castanò Liceo Benedetto Croce, Rome, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53981/destrocos.v6i2.56590

Keywords:

Giorgio Agamben, bare voice, logos, human nature, human exceptionality, animality

Abstract

The article proposes a reading of Giorgio Agamben’s La voce umana (The human voice, 2023) in the context of the development of his philosophy of language, and focuses in particular on the consequences of his theory of the “voice” for his definition of human nature. Agamben establishes an inextricable link between human voice and human nature, but his theory of the voice as what must be (inclusively) excluded in order for signifying speech (logos) to emerge also condemns the definition of human nature to an infinite deferral. Since a “true” human voice will emerge only when the division between phonè and logos is overcome, so only this overcoming will allow for a “authentic” definition of human nature. Particular attention is paid to the fact that this theory frames the human voice, and hence human beings, as an exception to an allegedly uniform animality, and thus upholds – perhaps unwillingly – a form of human exceptionalism.

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Author Biographies

Carlo Salzani, Messerli Research Institute, Vienna, Austria

Carlo Salzani is Gastforscher at the Messerli Research Institut of Vienna and faculty member of the Paris Institut of Critical Thinking (PICT). His research interests include biopolitics, animal ethics, animal studies, and literary animal studies. E-mail: carlosalzani@gmail.com.
Ermanno Castanò, Liceo Benedetto Croce, Rome, Italy

Ermanno Castanò teaches philosophy and is the author of essays and books about philosophy, ecology, politics, and animal studies. E-mail: ermanno.castano@gmail.com.

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