Are there any books that you wished more people in your own area of study or, indeed, in other areas of study too (insofar as “academics” are concerned), were more widely read? It is my personal view that the world would be well-serviced if more people took the time to read Durkheim generally and his Elementary Forms of Religious Life particularly for it is a book that is, essentially, about the “theologico-” in the “theologico-political.” Put another way, he is an essential complement to Schmitt. Or, if that doesn’t convince you, it seems to me that what we call “structuralism” and “post-structuralism” cannot be adequately understood without a reflection on Durkheim’s final work. I mean, of course, that Mauss, Levi-Strauss, Clastres, Bataille, Derrida, Foucault and – possibly – Deleuze cannot be fully appreciated without a consideration of the influence of Durkheimian sociology. Let us not forget Agamben as well. So, if you could wield tyrannical power over all others, what book would you have them read?
[Crossposted from Long Sunday]
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