C2 Edited work
Biopolitics and Ancient Thought (2022)
Backman, J., & Cimino, A. (Eds.). (2022). Biopolitics and Ancient Thought. Oxford University Press. Classics in Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.001.0001
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Backman, Jussi; Cimino, Antonio
ISBN: 978-0-19-284710-2
eISBN: 978-0-19-266273-6
Journal or series: Classics in Theory
Publication year: 2022
Number of pages in the book: 240
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Place of Publication: Oxford
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.001.0001
Publication open access: Not open
Publication channel open access:
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.
Keywords: politics; political philosophy; ancient philosophy; biopolitics; power (societal objects); conceptual history; intellectual history; political history
Free keywords: politics; political philosophy; ancient philosophy; biopolitics; biopower; Plato; Aristotle; Hannah Arendt; Michel Foucault; Giorgio Agamben
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Creation, Genius, Innovation: Towards a Conceptual Genealogy of Western Creativity
- Backman, Jussi
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2022
JUFO rating: 3
This publication includes articles with JYU authors:
- Backman, J. (2022). Bene vivere politice : On the (Meta)biopolitics of “Happiness”. In J. Backman, & A. Cimino (Eds.), Biopolitics and Ancient Thought (pp. 126-144). Oxford University Press. Classics in Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.003.0007
- Prozorov, S. (2022). From Biopolitics to Biopoetics and Back Again : On a Counterintuitive Continuity in Foucault’s Thought. In J. Backman, & A. Cimino (Eds.), Biopolitics and Ancient Thought (pp. 168-182). Oxford University Press. Classics in Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.003.0009
- Backman, J., & Cimino, A. (2022). Introduction. In J. Backman, & A. Cimino (Eds.), Biopolitics and Ancient Thought (pp. 1-11). Oxford University Press. Classics in Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.003.0001
- Ojakangas, M. (2022). Plato and the Biopolitical Purge of the City-State. In J. Backman, & A. Cimino (Eds.), Biopolitics and Ancient Thought (pp. 38-58). Oxford University Press. Classics in Theory. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192847102.003.0003
