A massificação da comunidade e o infinito como operador ontológico da communitas

Abstract

Considering the current context of social dissolution and the growth of national-populism, the present investigation answers the following problem: is there a necessary connection between the constitution of communities and the recurring threat of dissolution of the social link and, hence, the fear of death? To answer this question, we turned to Peter Sloterdijk’s, Giorgio Agamben’s and Alain Badiou’s philosophies. The investigation was developed by bibliographical reading and comparison of texts. The resulting article was divided into five sections. Initially, Esposito’s concept of communitas was presented, according to which there is an intrinsic relationship between what grounds a community and the concern with death. Then, Sloterdijk’s concept of mass was brought and connected to the populisms. At last, Agamben’s concept of rest and Badiou’s concept of infinit were contrasted with Esposito’s communitarian finitude. The reached conclusion is that the relation between community and death is not necessary, but contingent, insofar as death isn’t the common principle that holds the community of beings, but the result of the contemporary social immunization.