Specters of Saint Francis: Agamben's <em>The Highest Poverty</em> and the State of Digital Culture

Abstract

This essay reflects on Giorgio Agamben's The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life (2013) with particular attention to the Italian philosopher's detailed analysis of the question of the open, free sharing of goods, or "simple use," as the ultimate point of contention between the Franciscan movement and the Roman Catholic Church. The essay refutes Agamben's contention that such a practice is unthinkable in contemporary society. Indeed, in the digital domain, the question of the open sharing of goods such as information or network bandwidth has resurfaced with renewed urgency. Yet it is highly doubtful whether the Internet represents the genuine triumph of simple use. Through examples such as the indictment of Aaron Swartz for downloading scholarly articles from the JSTOR database, the ascendancy of Coursera as a corporate publisher of online educational content via a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) model, and the current debate surrounding network neutrality, the essay debates the extent to which the Franciscan idea of simplex usus remains a problematic spectral presence.