Su alcuni usi di "barbarie" nel Novecento

The paper is concerned with the question, How does the signifier "barbarism" work? as opposed to the more canonical question, What is barbarism?. The move is meant to shift focus from reflection on the content of the notion to reflection over its theorethical functioning within some specific discursive strategies. Three of these strategies are discussed: Lèvi-Strauss's understanding of "barbarism" in Race and History; the ancient use of the antonymous concepts "Greeg/barbarian" as interpreted in contemporary Greek scholarship; and Michel Henry's view of "barbarism" as the negation of life. A distinction is drawn between relational uses of the signifier, which are said to be of an anthropological character, and non-relational, disjunctive uses, which may serve the purpose of interiorizing barbarism's threat.