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On Impotence
Life in an Age of Frenetic Paralysis
Series: The Italian List
Brief Description
An incisive and urgent book that explores the hidden roots of our contemporary powerlessness. Contemporary life is marked by a paradoxical form of impotence. Whether in love, labour, or political struggle, we often find ourselves locked in a state of frenetic paralysis — unable to act...
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On Impotence
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Description
An incisive and urgent book that explores the hidden roots of our contemporary powerlessness.
Contemporary life is marked by a paradoxical form of impotence. Whether in love, labour, or political struggle, we often find ourselves locked in a state of frenetic paralysis — unable to act as we wish or to endure what confronts us. This impotence is not born of lack, but of excess: an abundance of skills, capacities, and opportunities that, instead of taking form as coherent actions or speech, stagnate and turn in on themselves. In this thought-provoking meditation, philosopher Paolo Virno examines this strange impotence through the lens of classical thought, drawing especially on Aristotle and Marx.
To overcome this troubling state, Virno calls for a collective search for a shared spiritual and practical exercise aimed at reclaiming agency. He argues that only by learning to renounce renunciation can we cultivate deliberate words and timely decisions.
Series: The Italian List
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The Idea of World
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781803096452
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 08 May 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd
Contributors:
- Translated by Arianna Bove
Audience: Tertiary education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 13.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 172g
Pages: 160
About the Author
Paolo Virno is an Italian philosopher, semiologist, and activist. A prominent figure in the tradition of Italian workerist thought, he teaches at the University of Rome and is the author of An Essay on Negation, The Idea of World, and numerous other works. Arianna Bove is an independent philosophy researcher and translator, and cofounder of generation-online.org. She has translated works by Althusser, Foucault, Negri, Bifo, and Virno, among others.
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