nancy inoperative community

8/17/2019 Nancy Inoperative Community

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Chris Morales

March 25, 2016

Nancy, “The Inoperative Community” In The Inoperative Community, Nancy critiques nostalic an! "utural notions o"

community, s#etchin out a mo!el o" community as incomplete an! incompleta$le alon the

lines o" %ei!eer&s conception o" $ein'to(ar!'!eath) The pro$lem (ith nostalic,

*ousseauean conceptions o" community is that they are $ase! on a "ictitious imae o" primal,

pre'social unity $et(een people) +uturalCommunist, or more $roa!ly, humanistconceptions

o" community $ase themselves on a rii! !e"inition o" the human, as a pro-ect to $e $rouht

a$out, (hich stan!s at o!!s (ith humanity as it actually is) .t root, $oth pro$lematic conceptions

o" community require a metaphysics o" immanence an! presence) Community, accor!in to this

metaphysics, is a thin that can actually e/ist) That community is a$sent "rom our present society

!oes not mean that this thin !i! not e/ist in the past or that it cannot $e $rouht a$out in the

"uture) Nancy critiques these "antasies o" immanence, aruin that community shoul! $e

un!erstoo! to have an ontoloical structure analoous to asein&s $ein'to(ar!s'!eath never

complete, never "inally $rouht a$out an! present, $ut al(ays outstrippin us) This is the

meanin $ehin! a community that is inoperative, since community is una$le to $e operate! on

to(ar!s the $rinin a$out o" some i!eal) Community is not somethin that can $e put to (or#

nor somethin (e can o to (or# "or, rather it is somethin that happens to us an! al(ays

accor!in to the loic o" loss)

Communism (as an attempt to re!iscover community $eyon! social !istinctions an! the

su$or!ination to technopolitical !omination 13) The pro$lem (ith communism (as that it

attempte! to !e"ine the human an! human community at all, $ut speci"ically as $eins

“pro!ucin in essence their o(n essence as their (or#” 23) In communism (e !o not only

pro!uce ourselves metaphysically3, $ut (e pro!uces ourselves precisely as pro!ucers


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economically an! socially3) . community o" human $eins receives its un!erstan!in o" the

human "rom “economic ties, technoloical operations an! political "usion” 43) y !e"inin the

human as properly equal in certain (ays an! enineerin society to $rin a$out that equality,

humanist social pro-ects attempt to $rin into presence a merely speci"ic "orm o" the human,

(hich claims to $e universal) Merleau'onty&s critique o" Communism in “%umanism an!

Terror” a!vances the same "un!amental thesis, $ut (ith a reater emphasis on the violence !one

to actual humanity in the name o" the i!eal) In Contingency, Hegemony and Universality, 7u!ith

utler issues a critique o" contemporary human rihts alon similar lines, particularly in !e$ate

(ith Martha Nuss$aum, over (hether Nuss$aum&s capa$ilities approach miht provi!e a roun!

"or a universal humanism that !oes not !o violence to more local an! culturally speci"ic

articulations o" the human)

I" Communism is to $e un!erstoo! as an attempt to "ill the present a$sence o" community,

then nostalic mo!els o" lost community are to $e un!erstoo! as attempts to e/plain ho(

community has $een !isplace!) Mo!ernity is suppose!ly enen!ere! $y a $rea#!o(n in

community c") *ousseau, “8riin o" Inequality”3, a $rea#!o(n in relations o" love, "amiliarity

an! "raternity 9'103) Nancy says this imaine! community is "rame! aroun! an i!eal o"

communion 103) :uch a community is $uilt up aroun! a natural $on! "orme! $y livin toether,

rather than on the economic !epen!encies $et(een people that hol! contemporary society

toether) *ousseau&s !istinction $et(een communion an! economic !epen!ency is "urther

!evelope! $y ur#heim, in his theory o" oranic an! mechanical soli!arity) Nancy&s claim is that

a primal community $rouht close $y relations o" love is a myth) :ociety !oes not !isplace

community, community happens to people (ho alrea!y live in society 113) ecause community


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is a happenin, it is not somethin that can $e un!erstoo! as a thin that e/ists here an! no(

accor!in to the metaphysics o" presence)

Nancy claims that community ouht to $e un!erstoo! aainst these metaphysics o"

immanence, (hich !escri$e community as some really uni"ie! roup o" people the possi$ility o"

(hich has $een lost or !era!e! in the mo!ern (orl!) *ather, loss an! a$sence are (hat

constitute community) This claims "ollo(s the loic o" space an! communication that Nancy

!evelops in much o" his (or#, particularly “:hattere! ;ove” an! “The Intru!er)” .ccor!in to

this loic, complete presence, "amiliarity or communion, e""aces the !istance $et(een thins that

ma#es communication, love an! community possi$le) Immanence is precisely (hat is lost in

community) Community is al(ays constitute! aroun! an irre!uci$le loss an! !istance $et(een

people that ma#es their comin toether possi$le, $ut never complete) Immanence (oul!

“suppress community, or communication, as such” 123) It is on these roun!s that he !evelops

the i!ea o" !eath as that aroun! (hich community is most acutely reveale!) In an ontic reister,

!eath reveals community $y $rinin us toether aroun! the loss o" one o" our o(n) In the

ontoloical reister, !eath reveals the open'en!e! structure o" community as it is constitute!

aroun! a nothinness an! an impossi$ility o" immanence, li#e the $ein'to(ar!s'!eath o"

asein) eath is (hat ta#es a(ay the possi$ility o" completion "or asein, an! Nancy applies

this loic to community as a (hole) Thus Nancy ma#es that claim that the $ein'to(ar!s'!eath

(hich ma#es impossi$le the su$-ect, has not $een a!equately conceive! in asein&s mit'sein

particularly in %ei!eer&s o(n (or# (here Nancy "in!s him to impart a #in! o" su$-ectivity to

historical communities 1


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In or!er to !evelop this mo!el o" community, Nancy "irst critiques the metaphysics o"

immanence in rear! to the in!ivi!ual, aruin "or ecstasy in place o" presence, an! sinularity

in place o" in!ivi!uality) Mo!ern thouht, championin the in!ivi!ual, see#s “an incarnation o"

humanity, areatin its a$solute $ein $eyon! relation an! community” 53) This is ho( the

in!ivi!ual sho(s up accor!in to the metaphysics o" immanence an! presence, as a sel"'

su""icient atom e/istin amon other sel"'su""icient atoms) .ainst such a Cartesian mo!el o"

su$-ectivity, Nancy arues that the in!ivi!ual is merely an a$straction "rom the actually al(ays

communal sel" that e/ists as a $ein'in'common) %e claims that such an atomic loic contra!icts

itsel" since the $oun!e!ness o" a sel"'containe! entity al(ays presupposes the ru$$in up aainst

o" other $oun!e! entities) To actually $e an a$solute in!ivi!ual, one (oul! nee! one&s $oun!ary

$ut also to enclose (ithin onesel" the relationality inherent to that $oun!ary''the space aroun!

the $oun!ary''(hich one can never !o

nancy inoperative community

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