Paradise Lost in Derrida and Agamben: onto-theology of animal life

In this essay, I explore the philosophical resonance of the theologi-cal notion of Paradise in the works of Giorgio Agamben and JacquesDerrida through the question of the Paradisiacal belonging ofanimal life. What is the significance of Paradise for these authors?This essay undertakes the search for the meaning of Paradise byway of these thinkers’ assessment of animal or creaturely life.I argue that their differing attitudes towards the life of the animalor creature expose a fundamental discord concerning exactly thisissue: the significance of theology, and the myth of Paradise and theFall. To be precise, it is argued that Derrida means to preclude thenarrative of the Fall. Agamben, on the other hand, takes the animalas creature, and thus as a proper theological subject – which in thiscontext means an Edenic exile – and accordingly as a proper subjectof redemption. So, where Derrida intervenes in an encounterbetween human and animal prior to Paradise, Agamben joins thestory after man was driven from it. In turn, this essay covers theissue of Derrida and Agamben’s messianic terminologies, the ontol-ogy of the animal as being-after, and ultimately, the conceptualunderstanding of Paradise.