Figura dell’inoperosità : la Melencolia I di Albrecht Dürer nel pensiero di Giorgio Agamben

This essay presents the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben in the light of Dürer’s engraving Melencolia I. In the first part we discuss the occurrence of the engraving in three Agamben’s books: The Man Without Content (1970), Stanzas (1977), and Nudities (2009). In the second,we attempt to interpret his use of Melencolia I as a figure of the concept of inoperativity. Inoperativity is seen by the philosopher as the essential feature of humanity, and its characterization takes advantage of the axiological overturning of the Aristotelian couple energeia/dynamis in favour of the second. From there follows what can be called an anthropology of (im)potentiality which shaped not only Agamben’s most known work in political philosophy but also his view of the artistic creation: both these research paths are therefore to be seen as the result of ontological interrogations. The footnotes of the essay retrace key passages in Agamben’s bibliography that help to follow the development and refinements of the concept of inoperativity.