Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Biopolitics of Interests Introduction: From Interest to Norms
- Part II Utilitarian Conduct of Conduct Introduction: Legal Norms, Extra-Legal Norms and Utilitarian Conduct
- 3 Law, Norm and the Control of Conduct
- 4 The Secret Monitoring Plan
- Part III The Biopolitical Expert Introduction: The Moralist and the Economist
- Epilogue: (De)Constructing Biopolitics
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
3 - Law, Norm and the Control of Conduct
from Part II - Utilitarian Conduct of Conduct Introduction: Legal Norms, Extra-Legal Norms and Utilitarian Conduct
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Biopolitics of Interests Introduction: From Interest to Norms
- Part II Utilitarian Conduct of Conduct Introduction: Legal Norms, Extra-Legal Norms and Utilitarian Conduct
- 3 Law, Norm and the Control of Conduct
- 4 The Secret Monitoring Plan
- Part III The Biopolitical Expert Introduction: The Moralist and the Economist
- Epilogue: (De)Constructing Biopolitics
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Introduction
This chapter is founded upon Christian Laval's idea that:
because he wanted above all to get rid of the juridical conception of power, [Foucault] eventually adopted a theory which is quite close to that of Bentham, that is, which does not restrict power to the political domain, but rather considers it as inherent to all human relationships.
Laval's assertion is based upon the analysis of Foucault's last essays, written when he was teaching at the Collège de France, and more especially The Birth of Biopolitics, in which Foucault re-established Bentham as one of the theoreticians of liberal governmentality. Such a mode of governing is organized around the principle of less governing, of what Foucault called ‘frugal government’. Laval establishes a relationship of intellectual lineage between Bentham and Foucault which goes beyond Discipline and Punish and makes it possible to ‘skip over’ the disciplinary moment. It is no longer possible to consider Bentham as the forerunner of totalitarianism, as a whole generation of readers of Foucault has done.
Though it may be easy to find ideas shared by Bentham and Foucault on the issue of disciplinary techniques, since Foucault founded his theory of panopticism on the project Bentham and his brother invented, it is, at first sight, much more difficult to find links between the two authors on issues that are strictly speaking legal.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Utilitarian BiopoliticsBentham, Foucault and Modern Power, pp. 51 - 66Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014