The End of the Affair with Life: Political Theory and the Corpse. Issue 4 (2nd October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Uhall, Michael
• Is Part Of: Critical horizons. Volume 20:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: 350
• Page End: 365
• Publication Date: 2019-10-02
• Subjects: Death -- loss -- materialism -- posthumanism -- phenomenology -- biopolitics; Critical theory -- Periodicals; 142.05
• DOI: 10.1080/14409917.2019.1672274
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1440-9917

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The relationship between death and politics figures prominently for us. However, the dead body has been neglected by this tradition. This paper shows how the figure of the corpse offers speculative resources in our contemporary moment, marked by conditions of existential threat and political decay. The paper discusses the ontological liveliness of the corpse, especially in relation to new materialism. The paper nevertheless draws our attention to the fact that the corpse is also the material site of an absolute loss. Accordingly, two developments for political theory become possible: a political phenomenology of loss and the approach of morbid opportunism.