Revista de Estudios Sociales

rev. estud. soc. | eISSN 1900-5180 | ISSN 0123-885X

Political Singularization (Arendt) or Ethical Subjectivation (Foucault): Two Ways of Interrupting the Government of Life

No. 43 (2012-08-01)
  • Laura Quintana
https://doi.org/10.7440/res43.2012.05

Abstract

This essay proposes contrasting the way in which Foucault conceives ethical subjectivation, as a form of resistance to biopower, and the way Hannah Arendt understands political singularization, as an interruption of the governance of life. In this way, this essay suggests that Arendt’s perspective exposes problems in Foucault’s argument, that Foucauldians do not seem to heed, and that Foucault’s point of view enables elaboration of some of the criticisms of Arendt’s ideas, which the Arendtians seem to avoid completely.

Keywords: Arendt, Foucault, Power, Life, Subjectivation

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.