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

90 Pages·2011·11.25 MB·English

by  Giorgio Agamben

Translated by Adam Kotsko
Stanford
University
Press
Stanford
California
2011
THE SACRAMENT OF
LANGUAGE
An Archaeology oft he 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 ofL Anguag~ was originally published in Italian under the tide
II sacramento tk/ /inguaggio. Arch~ologia tkl giurammto, copyright © 2008,
Gius, Laterza and Figli. All rights reserved. Published by agreement with Marco
Vigevani Ageozia Letteraria.
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 ofA merica
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-<iC22
20IOOI8I53
Contents
Tramlator's Note
1X
Abbreviatiom
X
The Sacrament of Language
I
Bibliography 73
Von dieseo Vorgangenen meldet kein Zeuge; sie zu verstehn bietet
unsee eignes Bewusstsein keioen Anhalt. Nur eine Urkunde ist uns
von ihnen geblieben, so schweigsam dem unkundigen, wie beredt
dem kundigen: die Sprache.
(No witness repons these events; our own consciousness offers no
grounds to understand them. Only one document is left to us by
them, as silent to the ignorant as it is eloquent to the experienced:
language.)
-Hermann Usener
Der Schematismus der Verstandesbegriffe isr ... ein Augenblick in
welchem Meraphysik und Physik beide Ufer zugleich beriihren Styx
intnfosa.
(The schematism of the concepts of the intellect ... is an instant
in which the shores of metaphysics and physics make contact Styx
interfosa.)
-Immanuel Kant
Translator's Note
The translator would like to thank Giorgio Agamben, Kevin
Attell, Daniel Colucciello Barber, Joshua Furnal, Ted Jennings,
and Virgil Brower for their suggested improvements; Nunzio N.
D'Alessio, Dennis Hou, Evan Kuehn, Craig McFarlane, and Yo
tam Pappo for bibliographical assistance; and Emily-Jane Cohen,
Sarah Crane Newman, and the rest of the staff of Stanford Uni
versity Press.
Existing English translations have been used wherever possible,
though sometimes altered to reflect the translation provided by
the author; citations of modem texts where a translation is avail
able have the original page numbers followed by the English edi
tion cited, while premodern texts are cited according to standard
textual divisions. All biblical quotations are taken from the New
Revised Standard Version. All other translations are my own, car
ried out in consultation with the author's translations.
Abbreviations
Aen. Aeneid (Virgil)
Ann. Annaks (Tacirus)
ApoL Apologeticus (Terrullian)
Cra. Cratylus (Plato)
Mens. De m~nsibus (Lydus)
IL The Iliad (Homer)
lnst. lnstitutiones (Galus)
M~taph. Metaphysics (Aristotle)
Od The Odyssey (Homer)
PL Patrologia Latina (J.-P. Migne, ed.)
Pyth. Pythian Odes (Pindar)
Rep. &public (Plato)
Th~og. Theogonia (Hesiod)
Tib. Lift ofTiberius (Suetonius)
Verr. Th~ Fir.st OratWn Against Verres (Cicero)
X
THE SACRAMENT OF LANGUAGE