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CONTAINING COMMUNITY GREGORY D. BIRD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFIMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM OF SOCIOLOGY YORKUNIVERITY TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80531-2 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-80531-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada IV ABSTRACT This dissertation uses the recent debate in continental social theory about community between Giorgio Agamben, Maurice Blanchot, Roberto Esposito, and Jean-Luc Nancy to re-examine how community has traditionally been understood in classical sociological theory. Theoretically, it draws from the traditions of hermeneutics and existential phenomenology. Politically, it draws from the traditions of spontaneity and anti-authoritarianism. Taken together, I argue that that a revolutionary notion of community must be in concordance with three main tenets: No gods, no Masters (or servants), and no property. I apply these tenets by critically analyzing what I call the "theological", the "authoritarian", and the "proprietary" registers, which are embedded in what I call the "economy of the proper". Through various exegetical exercises I address the following question: How can we theorize community qua existential eventness, qua the three tenets, and qua differenced In terms of the order of chapters my choice is related to the three registers of the economy of the proper. The first chapter provides a rough template for how these three registers work in the abstract and how they are combined. The next three chapters enter into more concrete examinations. In the second chapter, I examine how the theological and the proprietary registers are combined in the debate between Nancy and Blanchot. In the third chapter, I explore how Marx's theory of revolutionary appropriation combines the proprietary with the authoritarian registers. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I analyze how Weber's latent Protestant ethos leads to a particular combination of the theological and the authoritarian registers. In the first chapter, I begin with an examination of the hermeneutical approach that I have drawn from my reading of Heidegger's method. Most of this chapter consists of a lengthy analysis of the way that Heidegger turns the principle of identity in the event of existence. This analysis of his turning procedure serves as my rough template for evaluating how other thinkers, such as Nancy, Marx, and Weber, attempt to resolve the exigency of community. It also serves as my prototype for thinking about community in terms of a revolutionary event that disrupts the theological, authoritarian, and proprietary registers of the economy of the proper. I argue that Heidegger's leap beyond the metaphysical principle of identity, which reduces difference to sameness, can be used to rethink the existential community in terms of inconsistency, ex-identity, and as an event. I combine this reading with a brief analysis of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's examination of the property prejudice. I draw from Proudhon's insight that in Capitalism, property is understood in terms of taking away from, rather than holding back from. I use this insight to build upon the key taking-holding dichotomy that is present in the proprietary register. Finally, I end this chapter by examining how Nancy and Agamben differ in the readings of Heidegger's notion of the decision that we face in the event of existence. Agamben represents the traditional reading where an existent comes to terms with selfhood, whereas Nancy attempts to use this formula for disrupting the model of the individual altogether. Within this chapter there is also an important hermeneutical strain that is mention worthy at this point. I place serious attention on what I call the "idiom=proper equation". V Here I place particular emphasis on the fact that each term in this equation derives from a different semantic lexicon, i.e. idiom is from Ancient Greek and proper derives from Latin. In English, and to a lesser extent German, these terms are often treated as synonyms. In my exposition of the event of existence, I begin to demonstrate how various slippages occur when these terms are treated as synonyms, especially within the workings of the economy of the proper. I start to accumulate a list that addresses how these slippages occur as well as the significance of these slippages in terms of the economy of the proper. This hermeneutical-exegetical reading is paramount to the chapters that follow. Each chapter examines additional ways that slippages occur when the idiom=proper equation is employed and the significance of these slippages for how each theory of community unfolds in terms of the economy of the proper. The second chapter also considers existential theorems. I examine Nancy's debate with Blanchot around community by focusing on the concept of the "hypostasis", which I understand in a tripartite sense: in its Christian sense of the communion with God through his Son, in its linguistic sense of a grounded signification, and in its basic etymological sense of a foundation. By using hypostasis as the hermeneutical device for examining this debate, I demonstrate how a key, yet subtle, facet of this debate concerns how to think about community beyond hypostasis, which, I argue, could lead to a hyperstatic notion of community. In this examination, I also address issues that are raised by contemporary political theologians, such as the turn to post-phenomenology and the problem of difference-sameness. In terms of community, I argue, via Nancy, that if the communist exigency is merely reduced to difference, then community will remain trapped within the same logic that advocates of difference are purportedly against. Such is evident in Blanchot's unavowable community which he tries to derive from a notion of otherness. I then show how Nancy's attempt to think of community in terms of the "with" and as a non-static relationship that occurs through a disruption of, and a movement beyond ("ex- "), the difference-sameness dichotomy opens new possibilities for thinking about community qua event. In chapter three, I focus on the way Marx's ideal community combines the property prejudice with the metaphysical principle of identity. I begin with an examination of John Locke's bifurcation of property in terms of personal identity and in terms of property over things. I then argue that liberal secularization was partially accomplished by replacing a theological authoritarian model with a modern model of authoritarian proprietarianism. Finally, I draw together my reading of the event of existence with Proudhon's critique of the property prejudice to argue that we must drop the appeal to appropriation as the lever for transformation. Appropriation, I argue, merely results in the realization of a proprietary authoritarian model of community. Chapter four attempts to loosely bring together several strains of thought that are addressed in the previous chapters. First, I explicitly concentrate on the Protestant political theology that is present in the English language. Second, I demonstrate how Weber's political solution of the charismatic leader, as opposed to institutional politics that contain the flock, represents the logical end point of the Lutheran reading of hypostasis. Third, I use my analysis to examine how the themes of power and authority are combined in the Protestant model of theological authoritarianism through the concept VI of "possession". Possession, I argue, works in a complimentary fashion to "property". An existentialist notion of community therefore has to account for possession in addition to property. Finally, outside of semantics, etymology, and politics, this dissertation represents an exploration of the problem of the "we". I use community as a basis for exploring how the we has not only been conceptualized, but also how it has been contained. Throughout, my fundamental reference is Hegel's famous statement that "What still lies ahead for consciousness is the experience of what Spirit is—this absolute substance which is the unity of independent self-consciousness which, in their opposition enjoy perfect freedom and independence: T that is 'We' and 'We' that is T" (1977: §177).

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