The aim of this work is to investigate the relevance of the concept anthropological
machine of humanism, as proposed by Giorgio Agamben in L'aperto: l’uomo and
l'animale, to our understanding of current politics. This concept, which comprises the set
of discourses and practices that compose our ideas of what constitutes the human (and
humanity) in opposition to the animal (and animality) in a dual logic of inclusion and
exclusion, produces anthropogenic narratives that gravely resonate in the political life of
western societies. Even though we think that such terminology successfully synthesizes
this heterogeneous set of practices, we will argue that, in order for it to be a useful
conceptual tool, we need to go beyond a critique of humanism, and place it within the
context of non-anthropocentric critiques of politics. In this sense, we will turn the
anthropological machine against Agamben's own political thought and writing, a
movement that bears a double consequence. The first consequence is ethical and political
in nature: in opposition to Agamben’s deeply anthropocentric politics, we sugest
alternative modes of thinking possible politics of the living; the second consequence, on
the other hand, is critical and descriptive: in oppositon to the scope of Agamben's
biopolitical analysis (which is focused exclusively on the human body – be it the
individualized body, be it the social body), we sugest a multispecies approach to
biopolitical studies. This critical reading is situated within the larger picture of current
discussions about the Anthropocene – or rather, the Capitalocene – and its consequences
to the Humanities.
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