Rediscovering the roots of Biopolitics
A radical idea in the history of human thought concerns the notion that through the dynamic forces of power and knowledge, people have the ability to control and modify the processes of life. Given this, life and the living being enter the realm of the political struggle. A pressing issue which emerged in the second half of the Twentieth Century centred on this concept: how scientific rationality can intervene in the evolution of human beings. In the mid-1970s, Michel Foucault (1926-1984) French philosopher, sociologist and historian defined this concept as 'Biopolitics'. Foucault expanded upon the research of his mentor, Georges Canguilhem (1904-1995), a French philosopher and physician who specialised in the epistemology and the philosophy of science - biology in particular. Foucault explored the notion of 'resistance' not in the negative sense as it is commonly known, but rather as a way to create and recreate, transform and process. He questioned how resistance impacts new forms of power relations and inclines the power relation to change along with it. The work of Foucault is still at the heart of the debate on biopolitics occurring over the last 15 years, in contrast to Canguilhem's work, which has been neglected. This is precisely the impetus behind the Biopolitics project: rediscovering Canguilhem's work and its contribution to the contemporary debate on biopolitics. The project was involved in the editorial process of a book of Canguilhem's complete works. The publication of the first volume is set for this month (September 2010). Further, the primary research of the project focused on the unpublished works of the philosopher during the years 1929-1943 in order to understand the gradual rate of progression of his philosophical reflection on the epistemology of medicine and biology. The research is likely to have a significant impact on the current biopolitics debate as well as a long-term societal impact in relation to other areas such as bioethics.
