Jean Bodin ja biopolitiikka

Lindholm, Samuel

doi:10.37452/politiikka.115951

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“…Bodin's name is worth bringing up in this context because he is one of the few (near) contemporary influences that Hobbes chooses to cite by name. Hobbes does this while discussing the indivisibility of sovereignty in the Elements of Law (Hobbes, 1928(Hobbes, [1889: 137; for more on Bodin as a biopolitical thinker, see Lindholm, 2022). 10.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, there ought to exist a conceptual separation between concrete biopolitical ideas and the era that may be considered biopolitical on another level owing to the modern supremacy of life. In my previous work, I have called the ancient and Renaissance examples of such governing biopolitics before the biopolitical era (Lindholm, 2022: 150). Although Hobbes is perhaps the first ‘real’ biopolitical thinker in some limited sense, it would be imprudent to presume that aggressive biopolitical governing did not predate him by a notable margin simply because those who suggested such interventions into humans’ lives had their minds set on an even more ultimate telos of contemplative eudaimonia , or life after death – a goal that the undeniable biopolitical instruments were supposed to serve.…”

Section: Biopolitical Practices Versus a Biopolitical Eramentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 7. For a different perspective on Roman biopolitics, see Lindholm (2022: 79–97); Ojakangas (2016: 118–21).…”

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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: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Biopolitical Practices Versus a Biopolitical Eramentioning

confidence: 99%