The Right to Laziness

Abstract

“The Right to Laziness” explores the conceptual potential of the notion of paresse as featured in contemporary French philosophy, particularly in the ethical thought of Emmanuel Levinas and the theory of neutrality by Roland Barthes. I demonstrate how the concept of paresse serves as a concept-metaphor for denoting a specific philosophical position of dissensus or parrhēsia, which according to Michel Foucault is the only political position of protest available from within the discourse of philosophy