Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing and discussing some of the major issues concerning political philosophy, especially those related to the contemporary global challenges that interest this field of research.
Title of the course:A Genealogy Of Modern Power: Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt
Description of the course: The course aims at offering a general introduction to the Foucauldian notion of power by analyzing some of his texts dedicated to the concept of ‘biopower’. Many years before Foucault, Hannah Arendt, in the conclusive chapter of The Human Condition, examined the ways in which the modern epoch is marked by a profound transformation of the relationships between subjects, politics and power, anticipating, in many respects, Foucault’s analyses. By confronting the two interpretative frames of the notion of power the course also aims at offering some critical ‘revisions’ of the concept of biopolitics.

Program

Michel Foucault, La volontà di sapere, Milano, Feltrinelli 2001
Michel Foucault, Corso del 17 marzo 1976, in Bisogna difendere la società, Milano, Feltrinelli 2009. pp. 206-228. (Fotocopie disponibili presso copisteria La Rapida).
Hannah Arendt, Lavoro, opera, azione. Le forme della vita attiva, Verona, ombre corte 2002.
Hannah Arendt, L’età moderna, in Vita activa, La condizione umana, capitolo VI, Milano, Bompiani 1988, pp. 183-242; pp. 274-281. (Fotocopie disponibili presso copisteria La Rapida)
LORENZO BERNINI, Le pecore e il pastore. Critica, politica, etica nel pensiero di Michel Foucault, Napoli, Liguori 2008.

Examination Methods