Covid, Biopolitics and the Suspension of the Nomos
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-032-88808-8 (ISBN)
Employing the term ‘herd immunity’ from vaccination science and global lockdown policy as a guiding theme, the book considers two central aspects of the pandemic. These are the function of herding and collecting as a definition of ontology after Alain Badiou, and the concept of immunity as a suspension of oppositional differences in the work of Roberto Esposito. It then considers how herd immunity not only disrupts the nomos but also suspends its significance as a guiding principle of state-sanctioned legal norms—and perhaps permanently. Providing critical readings of masking, social distancing, compliance, vulnerability, bubbles, immunity, breathing, anti-vaxxers, nudge theory, cocooning, lockdown, patient zero, and the many other terms that became commonplace between 2020 and 2022, the book traces a suspension of legal and social norms, a manipulation of our compliance using false science, and a reconfiguring of the social nomos, in light of the threats of the virus. In a highly original mix of contemporary and post-war continental philosophy, biopolitical theory, set theoretical mathematics, extensional logic, and the most up-to-date science in the area, it argues that lockdown was not some global, biopolitical power grab, but actually a weakening of power, of nomos.
This book will appeal to scholars and others in a range of disciplinary areas with interests in the legacy of Covid; but especially those working in the areas of continental philosophy, contemporary legal theory, and biopolitics.
William Watkin is Professor of Contemporary Philosophy and Literature, Brunel University, London, UK. He is the author of In the Process of Poetry: The New York School and the Avant-Garde, On Mourning: Theories of Loss in Modern Literature, The Literary Agamben, Agamben and Indifference, Badiou and Indifferent Being, Badiou and Communicable Worlds, Bioviolence: How the powers that be make us do what they want, and Infinite Existence. His two-volume study indifference will appear sometime in 2026.
Preface: The Philosophy of Covid. Introduction: Nomosology and the Suspension of Nomos 2020–2022 1. Herd Immunities 2. Viral Load or Life in the Virosphere 3. The Immune System, the Floating Brain and the Philosophy of Covid 4. Foucault and the Nomosology of Pastoral Power 5. Deleuze, Guattari, and their Assemblage Theory of Herding 6. Wolves, Herds, Flocks, Packs, Particles Tuareg: Did We Move in Our Bubbles to a Purpose During Lockdown? 7. Herds Taken as Sets of Beings 8. Immunitas: The Indifference of Life and Death 9. The Immune Multiple 10. Conclusion: Covid, Biopolitics and the Resumption of the Nomos
| Erscheinungsdatum | 14.05.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Nomos Studies in Law, Culture and Power |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Gewicht | 640 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie |
| Recht / Steuern ► Allgemeines / Lexika | |
| Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-032-88808-3 / 1032888083 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-032-88808-8 / 9781032888088 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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