{"product_id":"an-essay-on-negation-by-paolo-virno-9781803093635","title":"An Essay on Negation","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA vital addition to Seagull's growing Italian List that focuses on leftist Italian thought, bringing famous as well as little-known yet crucial voices into the English language.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs speaking animals, we continuously make use of an unassuming grammatical particle, without suspecting that what is at work in its inconspicuousness is a powerful apparatus, which orchestrates language, signification, and the world at large. What particle might this be? The word \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eEssay on Negation\u003c\/em\u003e, Paolo Virno argues that the importance of the \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e is perhaps comparable only to that of money—that is, the universality of exchange. Negation is what separates verbal thought from silent cognitive operations, such as feelings and mental images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking about what is \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e happening here and now, or about properties that are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e referable to a given object, the human animal deactivates its original neuronal empathy, which is prelinguistic; it distances itself from the prescriptions of its own instinctual endowment and accesses a higher sociality, negotiated and unstable, which establishes the public sphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the speaking animal soon learns that the negative statement does not amount to the linguistic double of unpleasant realities or destructive emotions: while it rejects them, negation also names them and thus includes them in social life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVirno sees negation as a crucial effect of civilization, one that is, however, also always exposed to further regressions. Taking his cue from a humble word, the author is capable of unfolding the unexpected phenomenology of the negating consciousness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47455518916844,"sku":"9781803093635","price":35.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/71gLuhl-QwL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774777551","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/an-essay-on-negation-by-paolo-virno-9781803093635","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}