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SzymonWróbel
stelencorrespondstotheLatinponere.Whencomparingutechnol-
ogy”withudispositif”,oneshouldask:Whatdoesitmeantobeat
someone’sdisposal?Inwhatsensedoesthewordudispositif”con-
stantlycontaininitselfmemoryindispositionalmeaning?Finally,
oneshouldaskiffreedomavailablehereonearthisonlyaboutbeing
notudisposedby”ornotuatthedisposal”ofanydeviceormaster.
Nature–inHeidegger’s–constantlyevokedbytechnology,remains
uatthedisposal”orisevenplacedutothedisposition”ofunknown
powers.Hence,itisinthestatusofasetting,enframing,orstock.
Whoisatwhosedisposalhere?Whodisposesofwhom?
Inansweringthesequestions,letusstartbysayingthatAgamben’s
analysescirculatearoundtheconceptofdispositiffollowingthreedi-
rections.ReadingFoucault’sstatementsfromvariousyears,Agam-
benconcludesthatthetermuapparatus”intheworkoftheauthorof
AHistoryofInsanityintheAgeofReasonessentiallymeansthreethings:
(1)aheterogeneoussetthatincludesvirtuallyanything,linguisticand
non-linguisticunits,discourses,institutions,buildings,laws,police
measures,philosophicalpropositions,andsoon;(2)asetofstrate-
giesoftherelationsofforcessupporting,andsupportedby,certain
typesofknowledge;and(3)thespecifichistoricalrelationshipbetween
individualsaslivingbeingsandthesetofinstitutions,ofprocessesof
subjectificationandofrulesinwhichpowerrelationsbecomeconcrete.
Afterfurtheretymologicalinvestigation,Agambencomesto
afinalsemanticconclusionandclaimsthatifwetrytoexaminethe
definitionofuapparatus”thatcanbefoundincommonFrenchdic-
tionaries,weseethatthesebooksdistinguishbetweenthreemean-
ingsoftheterm.Whatarethosethreemeanings?Well,firstwhatwe
findandwhatweunderstandinastrictlyjuridicalsense:Apparatus
isthepartofajudgmentthatcontainsthedecisionseparatefromthe
opinion;thatis,thesectionofasentencethatdecidesortheenact-
ingclauseofalaw.Second,atechnologicalmeaning:howtheparts
ofamachineoramechanismarearranged.Finally,third,ween-
counteramilitaryuse:thesetofmeansarrangedinconformitywith
aplan.Agamben,inasomewhatlessconclusivetone,addsthatto
someextent,thethreedefinitionsareallpresentinFoucault’s.
Afterthissemanticdilerentiation,letusaskthequestion:What
isthisoriginalmeaningforthetermuapparatus”?Howdomean-
ingsofthetermuapparatus”–thatofajudgment,mobilizationof
