Biopolitics and Ancient Thought

Jussi Backman is an Academy of Finland research fellow in philosophy at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä (Finland). He completed a Diplôme d'études approfondies at the Université de Nice (France) in 2003 and a PhD in philosophy at the University of Helsinki (Finland) in 2010. His main fields of expertise are contemporary continental thought (phenomenology, hermeneutics, poststructuralism, recent French materialism), especially political theory and conceptual history, as well as ancient philosophy.Antonio Cimino is Assistant Professor in history of philosophy at the Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen (The Netherlands). He obtained a PhD in philosophy from the University of Pisa (Italy). His main fields of research are the history of contemporary European thought and the reception of ancient philosophy in modern and contemporary thought.

• List of ContributorsAbbreviations of Classical WorksIntroductionPART I: BIOPOLITICS IN ANCIENT THOUGHT1: Biopolitics and the "boundless people": An Iliadic model2: Plato and the biopolitical purge of the city-state3: Sovereign power and social justice: Plato and Aristotle on justice and its biopolitical basis in heterosexual copulation, procreation, and upbringingPART II: ANCIENT THOUGHT BEYOND BIOPOLITICS4: Otherwise than (bio)politics: Nature and the sacred in tragic life5: Beyond biopolitics and juridico-institutional politics: Aristotle on the nature of politics6: Bene vivere politice: On the (meta)biopolitics of "happiness"PART III: BIOPOLITICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF ANCIENT THOUGHT7: Hannah Arendt's genealogy of biopolitics: From Greek materialism to modern human superfluity8: From biopolitics to biopoetics and back again: On a counterintuitive continuity in Foucault's thought9: Agamben's Aristotelian biopolitics: Conceptual and methodological problemsIndexList of ContributorsAbbreviations of Classical Works

The volume's exploration of how biopolitical frameworks are rooted in ancient texts provides valuable insights into politics, power, control, and the regulation of life in both historical and contemporary contexts. It is particularly relevant for scholars in political philosophy, classicalstudies, and those engaged in modern biopolitical theory, offering a crucial resource for understanding how ancient frameworks continue to inform contemporary discussions on governance and the management of life.