The Sovereign between the Beast and God: A Derridian Interpolation of the Political Descartes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2024.71.1585Keywords:
Descartes, Derrida, Schmitt, animal, mechanism, political theologyAbstract
What are the political implications of Descartes’ theory of the animal-machine? This article aims to answer this question from the perspective of the reflection initiated by Jacques Derrida on this question in The Beast and the Sovereign, where political power appears as a matter between humans, between two extremes: the strength of the beasts and the hyper-power of God. The Derridean critique of the notion of sovereignty defended by Carl Schmitt, whom Derrida quotes at every turn, attempts to swing the pendulum between these two extremes, from the political analogy of the sovereign to God to the animal analogy. This analogy, explored by Derrida, opens up a new reading of the Cartesian texts on the bête-machine in a political key, beyond Schmittian and Derridean reflection. The article suggests that a concept of effective sovereignty, as distinct from divine sovereignty, can only be displaced by animal figuration, as understood by Descartes in his concept of the bête-machine.
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Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Grant numbers PID2021-126133NB-I00
