Biopolitics in the Political Thought of Classical Greece

Ojakangas, Mika

doi:10.4324/9781315612751-2

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…He continues by arguing that although the eugenics in Plato's Republic (see Plato, 1935: 5.461, 7.535a) may bear a certain resemblance to the specifically modern logic of governing, this seemingly radical ancient programme still omitted the explicitly modern forms of racism as articulated by Foucault. Ojakangas (2016: 19) could not agree less. He disputes Esposito by indicating that the Republic (Plato, 1935: 5.459a–b, 5.460a) includes an undeniable biopolitical doctrine of breeding human beings like animals and that this programme is undertaken in part precisely because of heredity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…To further complicate matters, many scholars have opted to pinpoint the birth of the phenomenon elsewhere. The likes of Mika Ojakangas (2012; 2016: 1–6) argue that modern biopolitics has its roots in ancient Greek political ideas and practices – especially those detailed and suggested by Plato and Aristotle, who were already obsessed with controlling both the quality and the quantity of the people living in the real and imagined city states. According to Ojakangas, biopolitical practices flourished in Greece and Rome before late antiquity, but they also dwindled down owing to early Christian influences that began to emphasise the pre-eminence of life after death instead of the mundane and temporary existence on earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Was Thomas Hobbes the first biopolitical thinker?

Lindholm

2023

History of the Human Sciences

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Thomas Hobbes's name often comes up as scholars debate the history of biopower, which regulates the biological life of individual bodies and entire populations. This article examines whether and to what extent Hobbes may be regarded as the first biopolitical philosopher. I investigate this question by performing a close reading of Hobbes's political texts and by comparing them to some of the most influential theories on biopolitics proposed by Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Roberto Esposito, and others. Hobbes is indeed the first great thinker to assert the supreme political importance of safeguarding life. Furthermore, this prominence of non-contemplative life is not limited to mere survival but also seeks to allow for the people's happiness. This may indeed allow us to consider him as the first biopolitical philosopher, at least in some limited capacity. However, the Englishman's biopolitical stance lacks the practical aspects seen in examples of ‘properly modern’ biopolitics. Moreover, peoples’ lives were already governed radically in antiquity. I argue that Hobbes's biopolitical system was, therefore, minimal in the sense of a ‘biopolitical nightwatchman state’. However, he acted as an undeniable catalyst to the ‘properly biopolitical era of modernity’, when mundane life and happiness became the explicit main objects of virtually all politics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Was Thomas Hobbes the first biopolitical thinker?

Lindholm

2023

History of the Human Sciences

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“…Long before Galton, Plato and Aristotle argued that a successful political society will have a strong set of norms and laws aimed at promoting good breeding, since the qualities of the citizens who comprise a polity will determine its success or failure (Ojakangas 2016).…”

Section: Before the War: American And British Eugenicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race, Eugenics, and the Holocaust

Anomaly

2022

The International Library of Bioethics

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This chapter will focus on how the Holocaust shaped the concepts of race and eugenics in bioethics. I will begin with a brief account of how these terms were used before the Second World War, and then discuss how the Nazi eugenics programs and the Holocaust altered how scholars think about race and eugenics. In particular, I will discuss the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and 1950 Statement on Race, which signaled a change in how race and eugenics would be used in the second half of the twentieth century. Finally, I will consider how liberal eugenics in contemporary bioethics differs from older forms of eugenics, and how newer views about human populations (as genetic clusters) differ from older views of race. In doing so, I will explore how the Holocaust shaped modern taboos related to human genetics research.

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“…Biopolitical thought is, however, not a new idea and can be traced back to ancient Greece. Aristotle and Plato were, much like researchers in the mid-1900s, concerned with population growth and in particular increased numbers of the poor (Ojankangas 2017). In the 1950s, the contraceptive pill was introduced for the same reasons.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspective: the Human Transformation To Contraceptive Cyborgsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The production of contraceptive cyborgs in Swedish upper secondary sexuality education

Planting-Bergloo

Orlander

Jakobson

2021

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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In this study we examine upper secondary students’ notions of contraceptive methods, as human reproduction and contraception are common content in sexuality education in Sweden and worldwide. Our data were constructed during an extensive educational sequence in natural science sexuality education and include audio recordings of 17–18-year-old students’ stories. Since the main body of the stories was about hormonal and digital contraception and contraceptive responsibility, these stories are the focal point of our analysis. Our study further aims to problematize, challenge, and develop education on contraceptive methods, and Donna Haraway’s theoretical perspectives have been particularly useful. We have in the analytical process linked Haraway’s cyborg image with her later work on tentacular thinking. Our result shows that scientific facts about human reproduction are important for the students’ ability to navigate between the advantages and disadvantages of various contraceptive methods. However, sexuality education turns out to not only be a matter of scientific facts. This study accentuates how natural science, historical, political, cultural, and market-oriented intertwinings affect students’ notions of contraception—and thereby also the construction of natural science sexuality education.

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Biopolitics in the Political Thought of Classical Greece

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

Was Thomas Hobbes the first biopolitical thinker?

Was Thomas Hobbes the first biopolitical thinker?

Race, Eugenics, and the Holocaust

The production of contraceptive cyborgs in Swedish upper secondary sexuality education

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