On (environmental) responsibility in western tradition from Nietzsche’s and Agamben’s thought. A critique of the notion of “sovereignty”

Abstract

From Nietzsche's reflections on Western thought, the way in which political and legal responsibility has been understood in their three dimensions (personal, social and environmental), is analyzed through reason-instinct counterpoint (or polis-physis, domesticated-wild). The particular place assigned to the notion of "sovereignty" in our tradition, namely, in the interstice of the aforementioned counterpoint, makes sovereignty the nuclear element that articulates those areas of responsibility. Finally, this notion of "sovereignty" is criticized, underlining the problems it generates for the attribution of responsibilities, in particular the environmental ones.