The Author asks himself if the peculiar mode of application of the nexus doctrine/discipline represented by ideol- ogy constitutes the only possibility for reproducing and maintaining consensus in a political community. The constitutionalism’s curve shows the contrary: in the beginning constitutionalism developed as a common field between different ideologies, still it survived their crisis, and has opened a new mode of social and political collective behaviour, defined by the author as «political discourse». In order to overcome the risk of political (...) neutralization produced by the growing importance of technique in the contemporary governance processes, political discourse – considered in its function of language mediator and translator –, might work as an instrument able to link the broken threads of obligation. In order not to reproduce a straight and unilateral political discourse, a radical revision of the concept of measure would be necessary. Measure should be taken as an instrument for the allocation/distribution of differences and, therefore, as a useful element for the creation of consensus in a mass society. (shrink)

In 1626, the Neapolitan Ottavio Sammarco published the Discorso politico intorno la conseruatione della pace dell'Italia in which the author referred to the King of Spain as arbiter among the Italian princes and his ministers in Italy as efficient instruments to ensure the stability. This piece of political literature shows an explicit practical orientation, through which the author carries out a systematisation of the political means to achieve quietness in Italy. In articulating the praxis into formal language, Sammarco looks (...) to the past searching for the wisdom of History and uses Tacitus’ account to build a discourse around the tools and mechanisms for preserving stability and avoiding conflicts. The aim of this article, in the first instance, is to examine Sammarco's discursive programme and the purpose of his discourse; in the second place, how Tacitus serves the author's aim and how his account means a fundamental anchor. Furthermore, it will be useful to trace how the political language that transforms the continuous threat of war into politics is modelled by 1626 in Italy and how Sammarco contextualizes his political vocabulary within the Spanish Monarchy political dialectic at the beginning of XVII century. (shrink)

The topic of this article is the «discourse of the philanthropist» in the thought of Michel Foucault. The discourse of the philanthropist has played a vital role in the formation of the psychiatric and psychological sciences; was crucial in the birth and development of modern penalty; has deeply influenced the history of the prison institution and was instrumental in the formation of the working class. Finally, the discourse of the philanthropist has animated the human and social sciences from the first (...) half of the nineteenth century. The discourse of the philanthropist, for Foucault, is the discourse that addresses the meaning of reality as a norm and rule that the behaviors, actions and representations of individuals must be uniform in all areas in which it carries out their existence. (shrink)

Nella filosofia vi sono dimensioni di tipo pubblico e politico e dimensioni che sono essenzialmente di carattere individuale. C'è qualcosa di simile a un confine tra questi due piani? È in qualche modo individuabile? Quali sono i limiti dell'influenza sociale sulla mente del singolo? Faccio riferimento in questo scritto alle opere di Piaget, Nietzsche, Foucault, Elias. I principali strumenti concettuali che utilizzo sono connessi con la funzione dell'esperienza e dell'induzione.

L'articolo nella prima parte affronta il tema della concezione operativa della scienza in Bacone e Descartes; nella seconda il ruolo che rivestono le motivazioni biografiche di Descartes espresse nella VI parte del Discorso sul metodo per la strategia di comunicazione della nuova scienza.

This introduction first justifies the approach of this focus on the political thought of Foucault. Therefore it highlights the conditions that determine the appearance and the operation of the political discourse, then it clarifies because, according to Foucault, political discourse should not be analyzed in a format which opposes science to ideology, but as an act of discourse located in a strategic field and fighting with other discursive formations. It concludes with a look at the difference and interweaving that for (...) Foucault stand and connect political discourse and philosophy. (shrink)

This introduction analyzes some of the key questions concerning the political variations of the neoliberal economic discourse in today’s Europe. In particular, the relationship between the evanescence of nation-state sovereignty and the rebirth of the “economic nation” is taken into account. In the great transformation imposed by the ongoing economic crisis, the author stresses the importance of grasping not only the German roots of the European Ordoliberalism, but also those of a hybrid politics, based on governance policies, and implicitly imposed (...) by the unfinished character of the great transformation itself. (shrink)

Feminist thought is a constitutive part of political thought and its history. It is both a method of inquiry, a voice and a stance on the world, a claim of women’s political centrality, and a paradoxical critique of modern political and philosophical thought. As unexpected objection, feminist discourse constantly stretches the borders of the political canon and produces critical political theory, imposing the redefinition of the categories used to interpret the present and the past. Going through six centuries of history, (...) from the reappropriation of tradition in XV century to the tension with neoliberalism in XX century, protofeminist and feminist discourse constitutes in time a constant interruption of the monologue of Western patriarchal civilization, showing its centrality in the production, crisis and redefinition of political and social order. Thus, feminist discourse is an essential source of the history of political thought. (shrink)