Marco Piasentier - Böcker

How do humans fit into the natural world? What are the political consequences of viewing humans as animals? On Biopolitics is the first scholarly attempt to answer these questions, bringing critical thought into dialogue with naturalism.Effectively demonstrating that biology cannot serve as a measure of societies and that a critical theory cannot ignore the scientific worldview, Marco Piasentier explores two dominant strands of biopolitical theory that interpret nature in opposing ways. The first one reduces every notion of the natural world to a historical invention produced by mechanisms of power, thereby preventing the conceptualisation of humans as animals. The second strand turns nature into a normative principle from which to derive a politics of life itself. Piasentier suggests that it is possible to envision a different biopolitical theory, in which humans are political animals, free from any natural imperative. To this end, he introduces Darwinian naturalism into biopolitical theory, engaging with contemporary debates in the philosophy of science about biological teleology and normativity. Rather than reducing the Darwinian worldview to a historic-political invention, he challenges the anthropomorphic residues that continue to inform it and serve as grounds for normative forms of biopolitics.On Biopolitics sets a new foundation for biopolitical theory and will become essential reading for humanities and social sciences scholars seeking a new perspective on nature, beyond any form of biologism or linguistic idealism.

This volume examines the intertwined meanings of reason, crisis, and Europe against the backdrop of acute political, ethical, and geopolitical instability. Eschewing any singular diagnosis or overarching interpretive frame, it assembles a range of disciplinary, methodological, and normative approaches in productive tension. Through analyses of war and unrest, democratic backsliding, persistent colonial legacies, neoliberal forms of governance, and divergent philosophical lineages, the volume invites readers to reassess the foundations, limits, and possible futures of European thought and institutional life.Organized into four parts, the volume opens by tracing key moments in the philosophical history of reason and its recurrent crises within modern European intellectual traditions. Parts II and III extend this framing by introducing new theoretical perspectives and intellectual histories. Part II highlights the contradictions, contestations, and negotiations that have shaped the evolution of European philosophy. Part III offers a critical examination of political and legal discourses forged in response to the crises of the twentieth century, interrogating how these normative projects have influenced the trajectory of late‑modern Europe. Part IV concludes the volume with contemporary theoretical and political reflections on Europe’s present and its possible reconfigurations.Reason, Crisis, and Europe will appeal to scholars and advances students in European philosophy, European Studies, political theory, and the history of legal and political thought, as well as readers seeking a rigorous, interdisciplinary account of European modernity and its enduring crises.

How do humans fit into the natural world? What are the political consequences of viewing humans as animals? On Biopolitics is the first scholarly attempt to answer these questions, bringing critical thought into dialogue with naturalism.Effectively demonstrating that biology cannot serve as a measure of societies and that a critical theory cannot ignore the scientific worldview, Marco Piasentier explores two dominant strands of biopolitical theory that interpret nature in opposing ways. The first one reduces every notion of the natural world to a historical invention produced by mechanisms of power, thereby preventing the conceptualisation of humans as animals. The second strand turns nature into a normative principle from which to derive a politics of life itself. Piasentier suggests that it is possible to envision a different biopolitical theory, in which humans are political animals, free from any natural imperative. To this end, he introduces Darwinian naturalism into biopolitical theory, engaging with contemporary debates in the philosophy of science about biological teleology and normativity. Rather than reducing the Darwinian worldview to a historic-political invention, he challenges the anthropomorphic residues that continue to inform it and serve as grounds for normative forms of biopolitics.On Biopolitics sets a new foundation for biopolitical theory and will become essential reading for humanities and social sciences scholars seeking a new perspective on nature, beyond any form of biologism or linguistic idealism.