Decifrare il potere : Michel Foucault e la crisi della sovranità

One of the central themes in Michel Foucault's philosophical and political reflection is the reconstruction of the different forms of discipline of bodies between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, onto which a number of ways of managing power were grafted. The present contribution aims to reconstruct the working hypothesis from which these studies start and its consequences for their historical and political analyses of power mechanisms.

On the methodological level, Foucault starts from the premise that power is not a commodity, which can be exchanged or given up, but is formed of a grid of disciplines and practices that define the identity, conduct, and sexuality of individuals, legal-political mechanisms and medical-scientific techniques that affect the domination of oneself and others. In this sense, power does not function just repressively, but also productively, informing discourse, lifestyle, and behaviour. On the political level, the consequences are central to the change in the theoretical models (from the doctrine of natural law to contractualism) that define sovereignty in the modern age. [Publisher's text]