The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

Translated by Adam Kotsko

Stanford University Press

Stanford California 2011

THE SACRAMENT OF LANGUAGE An Archaeology ofthe Oath (Homo Sacer ll, 3)

Giorgio Agamben

Stanford University Press Scanford, California English rranslation © zon by me Board ofTrustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. Th~ Sacrament ofLAnguag~ was originally

published in Italian under the tide tkl giurammto, copyright © 2008, Gius, Laterza and Figli. All rights reserved. Published by agreement with Marco Vigevani Ageozia Letteraria.

II sacramento tk/ /inguaggio.

Arch~ologia

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the: prior written permission ofScanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-frc:e, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Agamben, Giorgio, 1942(Sacramemo dellinguaggio. English] The sacrament of language : an archaeology of the oath I Giorgio Agarnben ; translated by Adam Kotsko. p. em. - (Meridian, crossing aesthetics) "Originally published in Italian under the tide

Jl sacram~nto tk/ unguaggiq. n Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-o-8047-6897-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-o-8047-6898-6 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Oaths-History. 2. Oaths-Philosophy. 3. Language and languages-Philosophy. I. Kotsko, Adam. 11. Title. IlL Series: Meridian (Stanford, Calif.) GT3o8sA3313 zon J2.8-\(\I'll\

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This book is a conrinuation of Giorgio Agamben's invcsrigation of political thl·ory, which began wit h the h igh ly in Aucntial volume Homo Sacer: Soz1ereign Powa a11d

Hare /.if(·. H aving already tracc:d th e roots o f the ideas o f sowrcignry, sacred ness, and economy, he now turns to a pc:rhaps unlikc:ly topic: t he: concept of t he oat h . Followi ng the Ita lian scholar Paolo J>rodi, Agamben sees the oath

as tinmdational h>r Western politics and undertakes an exploration of the roots of the: phenomenon of t he oath in human c:xpc:rience. H e rejects the commo n idea that the oa th fin d s its o rigi n in religio n , a rgu ing instead th at the oath poi nts toward a part icu la r response ro th e experience of language, a response rhat gave bi rth ro bot h rel igion and law as we now know t hem. This book is importaiH not only f{n readers of Agamben or

of conrinenral

philosophy motT broadly, hut ti>r anyone interested in ljllestions relating

to

t he relationships among religion, law,

and lannuauc:. t" 0

Gim;'