Abstract

Chapter 5 explores philosophy’s task as what Michel Foucault called an ontology of actuality, according to which the present becomes the basis for identifying the difference between the essential and the contingent, between the superficial effects and deep-rooted dynamics that propel events, transform lives, and mark existence. The chapter advances two main theses. The first is that the immunitary dispositif has spread to all sectors and languages of our lives, to the point that it has become the coagulating point of contemporary existence. The second thesis is that the idea of immunity, which is needed for protecting life, if carried past a certain threshold, winds up negating life. Immunity encages life such that not only is our freedom but also the very meaning of our individual and collective existence lost.

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