What is a rule if it seems to merge completely with life? And what is human life if in every gesture, in every word, in every silence it cannot be distinguished from the rule? It is these questions that Agamben’s new book seeks to answer through a passionate rereading of the fascinating and bottomless phenomenon that represents Western monasticism from Pachomius to St. Francis. Although the book reconstructs in detail the life of the monks with its obsessive attention to timing and rule, to ascetic techniques and liturgy, Agamben's thesis is nevertheless that the true novelty of monasticism is not in the confusion of life and norm, but in the discovery of a new dimension, in in which, perhaps for the first time, “life” as such is asserted in its autonomy, and the claim to “the highest poverty” and “use” poses a challenge to law, which our time will still have to face face to face. The publishing layout is preserved in a4.pdf format.