pure violence, n.All

Pure violence (n.) neither ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠makes law nor preserves it but deposes it, said Benjamin — and what law cannot bear is not its aims but its sheer existence outside the law.

Pure violence (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not some original human action later captured by law, any more than there is a reality before language; it is the stake of the fight over the exception, supposed prior only afterward.