An inquiry into the origins of language and articulation, exploring how the transformation of the human voice shaped history, politics, and thought.

What does it mean to have a voice—and how does it shape what it means to be human? In The Human Voice, Giorgio Agamben embarks on a profound exploration of how the human voice transforms from mere sound into meaningful articulation, setting humans apart from the animal world. Tracing this transformation through ancient grammar and the history of writing, he unpacks the intricate relationship between voice and language, and the living being and the speaking subject.

Through a meticulous philosophical inquiry, Agamben reconstructs the mechanisms by which articulation turns expression into knowledge, revealing how the voice is the way we define humanity. This study reaches beyond linguistics, touching on politics and history, as it interrogates the enduring question of what—and who—is considered fully human.
 

Giorgio Agamben is a philosopher and writer whose works have been translated and studied worldwide. The Italian List series includes several of Agamben’s recent works. Thomas Haskell Simpson is associate professor in the Department of French and Italian at Northwestern University and a translator of many works from Italian. He has translated the works of Giorgio Agamben, Carlo Ginzburg, and Gianni Carchia.

The Human Voice
1. Vocative
2. The Human Voice
3. What is in the Voice?
4. Human Nature
The Voice as Philosophical Problem
Bibliography