Roberto Esposito (
Piano di Sorrento, 4 August 1950) is an
Italian political philosopher,
critical theorist
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from s ...
, and
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...
, notable for his academic research and works on
biopolitics
Biopolitics refers to the political relations between the administration or regulation of the life of species and a locality's populations, where politics and law evaluate life based on perceived constants and traits. French philosopher Michel Fo ...
.
He currently serves as professor of
theoretical philosophy at the
Scuola Normale Superiore in
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...
.
Biography
Esposito was born in
Piano di Sorrento,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
on 4 August 1950. He graduated at the
University of Naples Federico II. He was vice director of the
Italian Institute of Human Sciences of Naples, full professor of theoretical philosophy, and the coordinator of the
Ph.D. program in philosophy until 2013. For five years he was the only Italian member of the International Council of Scholars of the
Collège international de philosophie in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
.
He was one of the founders of the European Political Lexicon Research Centre and of the International Centre for a European Legal and Political Lexicon, which was established by a consortium made up of the Universities of
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
,
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of t ...
,
Salerno
Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...
,
Naples "L'Orientale", and
Naples S. Orsola Benincasa. He is co-editor of the book series ''Filosofia Politica'' published by il Mulino, the series ''Per la Storia della Filosofia Politica'' published by Franco Angeli, the series ''Storia e teoria politica'' published by Bibliopolis, and the series ''Comunità e Libertà'' published by Laterza. He is editor of the series ''Teoria e Oggetti'' published by Liguori and also acts as a philosophy consultant for the publishing house
Einaudi.
His 2012 monograph,
Living Thought. The Origins and Actuality of Italian Philosophy' (trans. Zakiya Hanafi,
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officiall ...
, 2012), is dedicated to the
Italian philosophical thought, and aims at creating a historical and theoretical background for the definition of the notion of "Italian Theory".
Corrado Claverini, La filosofia italiana come problema. Da Bertrando Spaventa all’Italian Theory, "Giornale Critico di Storia delle Idee" 15/16, 2016 (in Italian)
/ref> He has been featured in the Summer 2006 and Fall 2009 issues of the journal ''Diacritics
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
''and the Fall 2013 special issue of the journal '' Angelaki''.
Bibliography
* ''Vico e Rousseau e il moderno Stato borghese'', De Donato, 1976.
* ''Ideologie della neo-avanguardia'', Liguori, 1976.
* ''Il sistema dell’indifferenza: Moravia e il fascismo'', Dedalo, 1978.
* ''La politica e la storia. Machiavelli e Vico'', Liguori, 1980.
* ''Divenire della ragione moderna. Cartesio, Spinoza, Vico'', co-authored with Biagio De Giovanni and Giuseppe Zarone, Liguori, 1981.
* ''Ordine e conflitto. Machiavelli e la letteratura politica del Rinascimento italiano'', Liguori, 1984.
* ''Categorie dell’impolitico'', Il Mulino, 1988; new edition 1999.
* ''Nove pensieri sulla politica'', Il Mulino, 1993.
* ''L’origine della politica. Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
Arendt was bor ...
o Simone Weil?'', Donzelli, 1996.
* ''Lo specchio del reame. Riflessioni su potere e comunicazione'', Longo Angelo, 1997.
* ''Communitas. Origine e destino della comunità'', Einaudi, 1998; new edition 2006. English version: ''Communitas: The Origin and Destiny of Community'', trans. Timothy Campbell, Stanford University Press, 2004.
* ''Immunitas. Protezione e negazione della vita'', Einaudi, Torino, 2002. English version:
Immunitas
The Protection and Negation of Life'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Press, 2011.
* ''Bios. Biopolitica e filosofia'', Einaudi, 2004. English version: ''Bìos: Biopolitics and Philosophy'', Trans. Timothy Campbell, Minnesota University Press, 2008.
* "The Immunization Paradigm," in Special Issue: ''Bios, Immunity, Life: The Thought of Roberto Esposito'', edited by Timothy Campbell, ''Diacritics'' - Volume 36, Number 2, Summer 2006, pp. 2–22 The Johns Hopkins University Press.
* ''Terza persona. Politica della vita e filosofia dell'impersonale'', Einaudi, Torino, 2007; English version:
Third Person
Politics of Life and Philosophy of the Impersonal'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Press, 2012.
* ''Termini della Politica. Communità, immunitià, biopolitica'', Mimesis, 2008. English version: ''Terms of the Political: Community, Immunity, Biopolitics'', trans. Rhiannon Noel Welch, Fordham University Press, 2012.
* "Pensiero vivente. Origine e attualità della filosofia italiana", Einaudi, 2010. English version:
Living Thought
The Origins and Actuality of Italian Philosophy'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Stanford University Press, 2012.
* "Politics and Human Nature", in ''Bio-economy, Christianity, Human Nature'', special issue of ''Angelaki: journal of the theoretical humanities'', volume 16 number 3, September 2011, Routledge.
* "Community, Immunity, Biopolitics”, in Greg Bird and Jon Short (eds.), ''Roberto Esposito, Community, and the Proper'', Special Issue: ''Angelaki'', Volume 18, Number 3, 2013, pp. 83-90.
* ''Persons and Things: From the Body's Point of View'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Books, forthcoming 2015.
* ''Due. La macchina della teologia politica e il posto del pensiero'', Einaudi 2013. English version: ''Two. The machine of political theology and the place of thought'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Fordham University Press, forthcoming 2015.
Works in English
*
Communitas: the Origin and Destiny of Community
', trans. Timothy Campbell, Stanford University Press, 2004.
* "The Immunization Paradigm," in ''Special Issue: Bios, Immunity, Life: The Thought of Roberto Esposito'', trans./edited by Timothy Campbell, ''Diacritics'' - Volume 36, Number 2, Summer 2006, pp. 2–22 The Johns Hopkins University Press.
*
Immunitas
The Protection and Negation of Life'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Press, 2011.
*
Bìos: Biopolitics and Philosophy
', Trans. Timothy Campbell, Minnesota University Press, 2008.
*
Third Person
Politics of Life and Philosophy of the Impersonal'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Press, 2012.
*
Terms of the Political: Community, Immunity, Biopolitics
', trans. Rhiannon Noel Welch, Fordham University Press, 2012.
*
Living Thought
The Origins and Actuality of Italian Philosophy'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Stanford University Press, 2012.
* * "Politics and Human Nature," in ''Bio-economy, Christianity, Human Nature'', Special Issue: ''Angelaki: journal of the theoretical humanities'', volume 16 number 3, September 2011, Routledge.
* "Community, Immunity, Biopolitics,” in Greg Bird and Jon Short (eds.), ''Roberto Esposito, Community, and the Proper'', Special Issue: ''Angelaki'', Volume 18, Number 3, 2013, pp. 83-90.
* ''Persons and Things: From the Body's Point of View'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Polity Books, forthcoming 2015.
* ''Two. The machine of political theology and the place of thought'', trans. Zakiya Hanafi, Fordham University Press, forthcoming 2015.
Notes
References
Roberto Esposito - Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane
External links
Bibliography of the writings of Roberto Esposito (1976-2019) – edited by C. Claverini
''Interpreting the 20th Century: Totalitarianism or Biopolitics?''
Barcelona Metropolis 2008.
''Roberto Esposito: from the Impolitical to the Impersonal'' by Matías Leandro Saidel
Barcelona Metropolis 2011.
''Roberto Esposito, Community, and the Proper''
Special Issue of Angelaki. Edited by Greg Bird and Jon Short. Angelaki 18(3), 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Roberto
1950 births
20th-century Italian educators
20th-century Italian male writers
20th-century Italian philosophers
21st-century Italian educators
21st-century Italian male writers
21st-century Italian philosophers
Biopolitics
Critical theorists
Italian expatriates in France
Italian political philosophers
Italian political writers
Living people
Philosophy academics
Philosophy teachers
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa faculty
Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" faculty
University of Bologna faculty
University of Florence faculty
University of Naples Federico II alumni
University of Padua faculty
University of Salerno faculty
Writers from Campania