Skip to Main Content

Biopolitics and Ancient Thought

Online ISBN:
9780191939518
Print ISBN:
9780192847102
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Biopolitics and Ancient Thought

Jussi Backman (ed.),
Jussi Backman
(ed.)
Academy of Finland Research Fellow, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä
Find on
Antonio Cimino (ed.)
Antonio Cimino
(ed.)
Assistant Professor, Center for the History of Philosophy and Science,, Radboud University
Find on
Published online:
24 March 2022
Published in print:
31 March 2022
Online ISBN:
9780191939518
Print ISBN:
9780192847102
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The volume studies, from different perspectives, the relationship between ancient thought and biopolitics, that is, theories, discourses, and practices in which the biological life of human populations becomes the focal point of political government. It thus continues and deepens the critical examination, in recent literature, of Michel Foucault’s claim concerning the essentially modern character of biopolitics. The nine contributions comprised in the volume explore and utilize the notions of biopolitics and biopower as conceptual tools for articulating the differences and continuities between antiquity and modernity and for narrating Western intellectual and political history in general. Without committing itself to any particular thesis or approach, the volume evaluates both the relevance of ancient thought for the concept and theory of biopolitics and the relevance of biopolitical theory and ideas for the study of ancient thought. The volume is divided into three main parts: part I studies instances of biopolitics in ancient thought; part II focuses on aspects of ancient thought that elude or transcend biopolitics; and part III discusses several modern interpretations of ancient thought from the point of view of biopolitics.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close