Philosophical Archaeology

<p><b>Explores the potential for a novel philosophy of history to be uncovered by tracing the connections between Giorgio Agamben's work (theoretical practice) and contemporary art (artistic practice).</b></p><p>Offering for the first time a full historicized accounting of philosophical archaeology Ido Govrin delineates how this overarching method of historical inquiry has today become associated to a large extent with the work of Giorgio Agamben-and how it constitutes Agamben's philosophy of history in particular. As befits a book situated at an intellectual crossroads that brings together a range of discourses-philosophy history aesthetics theology and philology-Govrin conceives of philosophical archaeology as a multifaceted concept on a broad scale. The discussion slides along the length of the multilateral fault line and into the related fields of contemporary art and art history/theory. In doing so it illuminates the potential for philosophical archaeology as an artistic <i>modus operandi</i> in the broader context of contemporary art to expand our conception of history and historiographic research and for this sense of history to expand our conception of art in turn. At stake in this consideration is the possibility of a new materially based philosophy of history.</p>