Life beyond spectacle and glory in Debord and Agamben: revolution and messianic inoperativeness facing commodity-form and sovereign machine

This article compares the proposals of Guy Debord and Giorgio Agamben on the basis of the terms spectacle and glory. For the purposes of comparison, we will take a question inspired by Nancy’s famous critique of Debord: to what extent could it be said that there really exists, beyond the logics of the commodity and sovereignty, an “authentic” life? After a brief introduction, the article is divided into three parts. In the first we study Debord’s proposal concerning the pair life and spectacle. In the second we elucidate the perspective of Agamben, who dialogues with Debord, on the concepts of bare life, qualified life, forms-of-life and glory. In the third we attempt to offer an answer to the research question posed by the question of a possible authentic life in relation to the political revolution. Finally, we offer some conclusions.