Federico Testa
University of Bristol, French (School of Modern Languages), Department Member
- Philosophy, Contemporary French Philosophy, Michel Foucault, Philosophy of Life, Baruch Spinoza, Multitude, and 80 morePolitical Philosophy, Political Theory, Biopolitics, History of Political Thought, Machiavelli, Social Theory, Aesthetics and Theory of Arts, Art Criticism, Visual Studies, Anthropology, Pierre Clastres, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Marie Guyau, Gabriel Tarde, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, History Of Madness And Psychiatry, Philosophy As a Way of Life (Hadot), Philosophy as Therapy, Pierre Hadot, Marxist theory, Anarchist Studies, Operaismo, Autonomia and Post-workerism, Radical Democracy, Social Movements, Gilles Deleuze, Ancient Philosophy, Epicureanism, Epicureanism and Stoicism, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ancient Greek Politics, Agonism, Political passions, Early Modern theories of the passions, Affect (Philosophy), Aesthetics of Existence, Ethics of Care of the Self, Sociology of Arts, Ancient Philosophical schools, Philosophy as a way of life, Art Theory, Aesthetics, History of Philosophy, Georges Canguilhem, Ancient Political Thought, Historical Epistemology, Philosophy of Medicine, History of Medicine, Politics of the Emotions, Post-Kantian European Philosophy, Decolonial Thought, History of Ideas, Marxism, Madness, Anti-Psychiatry, Madness In Arts, Madness, Madness and Literature, Art History, Anti-Psychiatry, Surrealism, Art Brut, Outsider Art, Jean Dubuffet, History of Art, Social History of Art, History of Social Sciences, Philosophy of Art, Critical Theory, History of Vitalism, Vitalism, Intellectual History, History Of Political Thought (Political Science), Sociology, History of Ethics, Foucault Studies, Kurt Goldstein, Collective Memory, History of Slavery, Abolition of Slavery, and Slaveryedit
- My work focuses on the problem of normativity, and I seek to provide an account of agency based on a critical philoso... moreMy work focuses on the problem of normativity, and I seek to provide an account of agency based on a critical philosophy of norms. I am trained in philosophy, the social sciences, and the visual arts, and I am particularly concerned with issues related to norms and critique in different domains of experience, from politics to health, passing through artistic creation and aesthetics. I am currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bristol (UK), where I am working on a new book project on Georges Canguilhem. I have taught in different universities in Brazil, Australia, and the United Kingdom.edit
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This paper analyzes the genesis of the notion of parrhēsia in Foucault's work, showing how it first appears and is developed in a series of analyses of the "philosophy of the garden," first in a reading of Epicurus's view on the study of... more
This paper analyzes the genesis of the notion of parrhēsia in Foucault's work, showing how it first appears and is developed in a series of analyses of the "philosophy of the garden," first in a reading of Epicurus's view on the study of nature in the Vatican Sayings, second in his study of Philodemus's Peri Parrhēsias. It is precisely in a series of readings of the Epicurean school that Foucault finds one of his key theoretical resources guiding his study of ancient philosophical practices in the 1980s. More importantly, the paper seeks to articulate the ways in which the analysis of parrhēsia—and of the Epicureans in particular—is situated in a broader genealogy of confession, which connects Foucault's studies of ancient philosophy to his readings of Christianity and the formation of the modern technologies of power and veridiction, defining aspects of the earlier project of a History of Sexuality, as announced in the Will to Knowledge. Finally, the paper articulates a possible view on the critical import of parrhēsia in this broader genealogy of confession.
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This text revisits the interrupted dialogue between Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot, seeking to address the latter’s criticism according to which Foucault doesn’t sufficiently consider Epicurean philosophy, while making pleasure... more
This text revisits the interrupted dialogue between Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot, seeking to address the latter’s criticism according to which Foucault doesn’t sufficiently consider Epicurean philosophy, while making pleasure (plaisir) the guiding thread in his study of ancient philosophical practices. The paper seeks to articulate the underlying philosophical presuppositions of Hadot’s criticism, especially that which I call his ‘philosophical anthropology’, in which the analysis of the ancient philosophical schools plays a key role, concretely and historically instantiating fundamental poles of human spiritual experience. By highlighting the differences between Foucault and Hadot, and showing that the ‘anthropological’ option is not available within the former’s approach, I go on to develop Foucault’s treatment of Epicureanism in his 1981-2 lecture course at the Collège de France, showing that far from neglected this school played a conceptually organizing role in his studies of ancient philosophy. I focus on the role that Epicureanism plays in the analysis of the notion of parrhēsia in Foucault’s work, and then analyse the different modalities of relation to others that parrhēsia presupposed in his reading of Epicurean circles. My main concern is showing that parrhēsia appears both as an egalitarian and therapeutic modality of truth-telling between friends and as a practice of confession that will be fundamental for the history of Western subjectivity (an insight I intend to develop in detail in future work).
Research Interests: Ethics, History of Ethics, Continental Philosophy, Contemporary French Philosophy, Michel Foucault, and 13 morePhilosophy Of Friendship, Ancient Philosophy, Epicurus, Friendship, Epicureanism, Philodemus, Philosophy as a way of life, Pierre Hadot, Parrhesia, Ethics of Care of the Self, Spiritual exercises, History of Philosophy, and Ancient Philosophical schools
Amostra da introdução do livro 'Filosofia como modo de vida: ensaios escolhidos', Lisboa: Edições 70, disponível no sítio da editora:... more
Amostra da introdução do livro 'Filosofia como modo de vida: ensaios escolhidos', Lisboa: Edições 70, disponível no sítio da editora: https://www.almedina.net/filosofia-como-modo-de-vida-ensaios-escolhidos-1651137544.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhLKUBhDiARIsAMaTLnEMQLFG8Lgc5dOZx8zlza1rO1i7R6ZEO0WvszeR5rUXQTUNcBqQuc4aAjaNEALw_wcB
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A first version of this paper was discussed at the international workshop 'Affective Approaches to Justice as a Way of Life' (July 2021). The text will be published in "Affective Approaches to Justice", Michael Ure & Siby K. George, eds,... more
A first version of this paper was discussed at the international workshop 'Affective Approaches to Justice as a Way of Life' (July 2021). The text will be published in "Affective Approaches to Justice", Michael Ure & Siby K. George, eds, forthcoming.
Research Interests: Political Philosophy, Ethics, History of Ethics, Social Contract Theory, Continental Philosophy, and 14 moreHistory of Political Thought, Philosophy Of Friendship, Ancient Philosophy, Epicurus, Friendship, History of Moral Philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophy, French philosophy, Epicureanism, Philosophy as a way of life, Ancient Political Thought, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophical schools, and Jean-Marie Guyau
Este capítulo toma como ponto de partida a tensão apresentada por Mario Tronti entre lutas por emancipação, realizadas através de instrumentos e formas de organização de classe, e lutas pela liberação, que teriam como terreno a estrutura... more
Este capítulo toma como ponto de partida a tensão apresentada por Mario Tronti entre lutas por emancipação, realizadas através de instrumentos e formas de organização de classe, e lutas pela liberação, que teriam como terreno a estrutura da subjetividade. Esta última veria, por sua vez, nos instrumentos da primeira, a possível perpetuação das formas de opressão que se busca vencer ou superar. O capítulo sugere que, na obra de Foucault, é possível encontrar uma alternativa entre o dilema entre subjetividade alternativa e organização revolucionária, que preserva a tensão entre estes dois polos, concebendo-os como não necessariamente opostos ou excludentes. Nesse sentido, o capítulo analisa o modo como Foucault encontra, na história dos movimentos revolucionários, o imperativo da produção de um modo de subjetivação militante, isto é, da produção de modos de ser do sujeito que, nesses movimentos, devem acompanhar um processo de transformação revolucionária. Este modo de subjetivação é compreendido por Foucault em sua relação com formas de organização e associação. Nesse sentido, o capítulo convida o leitor a pensar o problema da revolução desde o ponto de vista de uma história dos modos de subjetivação. Em diálogo com a obra de Pierre Hadot, o capítulo explora as noções foucaultianas de “espiritualidade política” e “conversão revolucionária” enquanto pontos de intersecção entre a dimensão coletiva, organizada em estruturas específicas (como o grupo ou o partido), do fenômeno revolucionário, e sua dimensão de transformação subjetiva. Para tanto, o texto situa o problema da revolução no interior da obra de Foucault, revelando suas ambiguidades teóricas e formas políticas, mostrando que Foucault não descarta o projeto revolucionário, mas procura situar diferente o trabalho do intelectual em relação a ele. Ao apoiar processos concretos de transformação, Foucault problematiza os termos em que a revolução foi pensada no ocidente, religando o problema revolucionário às noções ético-políticas de espiritualidade e conversão. Através da análise dos cursos de Foucault dos anos 1980, o texto mostra a íntima relação entre a reflexão de Foucault sobre a questão do “militantismo” e sobre as formas de “conversão”. Revistando a leitura que Foucault faz dos estudos de Hadot sobre a noção de conversão na antiguidade pagã e cristã, o texto explora o modo como Foucault situa a permanência dos requisitos transformadores da espiritualidade antiga – a partir da analogia com as escolas antigas – no coração da política moderna, através da noção de conversão à revolução. Por fim, o texto esboça possíveis elementos para a definição da conversão revolucionária.
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Editors' Introduction, in Jean-Marie Guyau, The Ethics of Epicurus (Bloomsbury, 2021)
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, History of Ethics, and 11 moreAncient Philosophy, Epicurus, Theory of the good life (Philosophy), Philosophy as Therapy, Philosophy of Life, Epicureanism, Philosophy as a way of life, Epicureanism and Stoicism, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophical schools, and Jean-Marie Guyau
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A version of this text will be published in "Michel Foucault – Repenser les rapports entre les Anciens et Les Modernes", ed. Jean-Marc Narbonne, Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink & Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen. Vrin & Presses de l’Université Laval... more
A version of this text will be published in "Michel Foucault – Repenser les rapports entre les Anciens et Les Modernes", ed. Jean-Marc Narbonne, Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink & Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen. Vrin & Presses de l’Université Laval (Forthcoming).
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A first version of this paper was presented at the 2017 conference "Government of self, Government of Others. Ethical and Political Questions in the Late Foucault", Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.
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A version of this text will appear in Nietzsche and Epicurus, edited by Vinod Acharya and Ryan J. Johnson, London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming (2020). Following the path opened by Alfred Foiullée 1902, this essay compares the works of... more
A version of this text will appear in Nietzsche and Epicurus, edited by Vinod Acharya and Ryan J. Johnson, London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming (2020).
Following the path opened by Alfred Foiullée 1902, this essay compares the works of Jean-Marie Guyau and Friedrich Nietzsche, specifically by situating the place of Epicurus and Epicureanism in their philosophies. Although both authors, in their later writings, depart from the teachings of the philosopher of the garden, both the young Guyau and Nietzsche in his middle period writings, feel related to Epicurus.
In this essay, I present both Guyau and Nietzsche’s readings of the Epicurean notions of pleasure and happiness. My attempt is to articulate the notions of time underlying Nietzsche and Guyau’s interpretations, relating these notions to their thoughts on temporality more generally. What are the divergences and convergences in their reading of the temporality of pleasure in Epicurus? Is it possible to see, in their readings of Epicurean happiness, the principles of their own notions of time and temporality?
Following the path opened by Alfred Foiullée 1902, this essay compares the works of Jean-Marie Guyau and Friedrich Nietzsche, specifically by situating the place of Epicurus and Epicureanism in their philosophies. Although both authors, in their later writings, depart from the teachings of the philosopher of the garden, both the young Guyau and Nietzsche in his middle period writings, feel related to Epicurus.
In this essay, I present both Guyau and Nietzsche’s readings of the Epicurean notions of pleasure and happiness. My attempt is to articulate the notions of time underlying Nietzsche and Guyau’s interpretations, relating these notions to their thoughts on temporality more generally. What are the divergences and convergences in their reading of the temporality of pleasure in Epicurus? Is it possible to see, in their readings of Epicurean happiness, the principles of their own notions of time and temporality?
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A draft version of this paper was presented in March 2018 at the 'Jean-Marie Guyau et ses contemporains' conference (Maison des sciences de l'homme/Université Paris 8). The current version is published in Annamaria Contini & Jordi Riba... more
A draft version of this paper was presented in March 2018 at the 'Jean-Marie Guyau et ses contemporains' conference (Maison des sciences de l'homme/Université Paris 8).
The current version is published in Annamaria Contini & Jordi Riba (eds.), Jean-Marie Guyau notre contemporain, Lyon: ENS Éditions, 2023.
It is available in open access HTML form at the OpenEdition Books/Freemium project website:
https://books.openedition.org/enseditions/45166
The current version is published in Annamaria Contini & Jordi Riba (eds.), Jean-Marie Guyau notre contemporain, Lyon: ENS Éditions, 2023.
It is available in open access HTML form at the OpenEdition Books/Freemium project website:
https://books.openedition.org/enseditions/45166
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Co-authored with M. Dennis.
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This paper shows how Foucault adopts and reconfigures Nietzsche's Hellenistically inspired model of the philosophical and cultural physician. It elaborates and explains Foucault's Nietzschean model of the philosophical physician and its... more
This paper shows how Foucault adopts and reconfigures Nietzsche's Hellenistically inspired model of the philosophical and cultural physician. It elaborates and explains Foucault's Nietzschean model of the philosophical physician and its normative underpinning. In section 1 we establish the philosophical background to this model by demonstrating how Nietzsche conceives genealogy as a medical interpretation and diagnosis of phenomena. For Nietzsche genealogy is an art of interpretation that enables the philosophical physician to diagnose health and sickness. In section 2 we turn to Foucault's own debt to the Nietzschean idea of the philosophical physician. We argue that Foucault's genealogical method commits him to the ideal of the philosophical physician. Nietzsche conceives the genealogist as a physiologist or doctor who interprets phenomena in terms of health and sickness. By adopting Nietzsche's genealogical method Foucault therefore explicitly frames his analysis of modern power in terms of this ancient ideal. Yet, if Foucault deploys Nietzsche's method he too is faced with the difficulty of circumscribing and defining norms of health and illness. We argue secondly that Foucault’s own normative judgements are partly informed by a Nietzschean ideal of ‘vital normativity’, and its corresponding distinction between the normal and the pathological. Like Nietzsche Foucault acknowledges that flourishing requires the capacity to invent new norms and ways of life, and in doing so to become different to oneself, to go astray from oneself. We therefore describe Foucault’s ethical experimentalism as an ethics of errancy. And like Nietzsche, Foucault also investigates and deploys Hellenistic philosophies as technologies that transform logos into ethos, truth into a way of life.
Nevertheless, as we show in the final section, there remains a significant difference between Nietzsche’s ethical experimentalism and Foucault’s ethics of errancy. While Nietzsche formulates a principle for distinguishing between health and sickness, Foucault’s skeptical genealogy of the present leaves him without the conceptual resources to discharge the role of the philosophical physician. Foucault takes up Nietzschean genealogy but omits the philosophical quest for eternity to which Nietzsche was committed. For Nietzsche self-transformation is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition of ‘the great health’. (GS 382) Nietzsche’s ‘great health’ requires not just ethical experimentation, not just an art of going astray from oneself, but experimentation that tests and enhances one’s capacity to be affected by and incorporate the widest possible range of experiences or stimuli. Nietzsche endorses tragic pessimism as a sign and symptom of great health precisely because, as he conceives its, this type of pessimism actively seeks out “the fearful and questionable that characterises all existence.” (HH 2, P7) Nietzsche’s ethical experimentation aims at the realising the greatest possible margin of tolerance for all that threatens or endangers the self, or the luxury, as he puts its, of tragic insight into the eternal repetition of same. Nietzsche’s great health is an affirmation of tragic fate. Nietzsche therefore frames his philosophical askēsis in terms of the classical problem of fate. Foucault reclaims the ancient philosophies, but not as therapeutic responses to the tragic character of existence, but simply as technologies of open-ended self-transformation. Nietzsche’s philosophical physician sets free spirits the Dionysian task of affirming the tragic character of existence to the extent of affirming its eternal repetition. Foucault’s philosophical physician sets modern subjects the task of perpetually going beyond the limits of the present to the extent of pursuing the Sisyphean task of always starting anew on the same task.
Nevertheless, as we show in the final section, there remains a significant difference between Nietzsche’s ethical experimentalism and Foucault’s ethics of errancy. While Nietzsche formulates a principle for distinguishing between health and sickness, Foucault’s skeptical genealogy of the present leaves him without the conceptual resources to discharge the role of the philosophical physician. Foucault takes up Nietzschean genealogy but omits the philosophical quest for eternity to which Nietzsche was committed. For Nietzsche self-transformation is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition of ‘the great health’. (GS 382) Nietzsche’s ‘great health’ requires not just ethical experimentation, not just an art of going astray from oneself, but experimentation that tests and enhances one’s capacity to be affected by and incorporate the widest possible range of experiences or stimuli. Nietzsche endorses tragic pessimism as a sign and symptom of great health precisely because, as he conceives its, this type of pessimism actively seeks out “the fearful and questionable that characterises all existence.” (HH 2, P7) Nietzsche’s ethical experimentation aims at the realising the greatest possible margin of tolerance for all that threatens or endangers the self, or the luxury, as he puts its, of tragic insight into the eternal repetition of same. Nietzsche’s great health is an affirmation of tragic fate. Nietzsche therefore frames his philosophical askēsis in terms of the classical problem of fate. Foucault reclaims the ancient philosophies, but not as therapeutic responses to the tragic character of existence, but simply as technologies of open-ended self-transformation. Nietzsche’s philosophical physician sets free spirits the Dionysian task of affirming the tragic character of existence to the extent of affirming its eternal repetition. Foucault’s philosophical physician sets modern subjects the task of perpetually going beyond the limits of the present to the extent of pursuing the Sisyphean task of always starting anew on the same task.
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Este artículo aborda la idea de filosofía que podría extraerse de la recepción de las escuelas filosóficas helenísticas en Michel Foucault y Pierre Hadot. Haciendo hincapié en la idea de «modo de vida», así como en la importancia de los... more
Este artículo aborda la idea de filosofía que podría extraerse de la recepción de las escuelas filosóficas helenísticas en Michel Foucault y Pierre Hadot. Haciendo hincapié en la idea de «modo de vida», así como en la importancia de los «ejercicios espirituales» y las «prácticas ascéticas» para la actividad filosófica, esbozo las similitudes entre los dos filósofos franceses con el fin de explorar la posibilidad de una historia de la filosofía escrita desde la perspectiva concreta de las tecnologías del yo y de las prácticas espirituales. Presento los análisis de Foucault y Hadot de las prácticas concretas y modos de compromiso con la vida como una perspectiva que redefine la filosofía, así como una herramienta hermenéutica en el estudio de la filosofía antigua. Con el fin de resaltar los
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A version of this text will appear in Monica Zielinsky, ed., Arquivos abertos: O lugar da arte contemporânea, UFRGS, forthcoming. Este ensaio é fruto de um exercício crítico de relação intensiva com obra de Paco Cao, El veneno del... more
A version of this text will appear in Monica Zielinsky, ed., Arquivos abertos: O lugar da arte contemporânea, UFRGS, forthcoming.
Este ensaio é fruto de um exercício crítico de relação intensiva com obra de Paco Cao, El veneno del baile (Venenum saltationis), instalação presente no galpão A6 do Cais do Porto, no âmbito da mostra da 8ª Bienal do Mercosul de Porto Alegre, 2011. Uma versão desse texto será publicada em Zielinsky (org.), Arquivos abertos: O lugar da arte contemporânea, UFRGS (no prelo).
Este ensaio é fruto de um exercício crítico de relação intensiva com obra de Paco Cao, El veneno del baile (Venenum saltationis), instalação presente no galpão A6 do Cais do Porto, no âmbito da mostra da 8ª Bienal do Mercosul de Porto Alegre, 2011. Uma versão desse texto será publicada em Zielinsky (org.), Arquivos abertos: O lugar da arte contemporânea, UFRGS (no prelo).
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Translated by Federico Testa, co-edited with Keith Ansell-Pearson
Research Interests: Intellectual History, Ethics, History of Ethics, History of Ideas, Political Theory, and 15 moreVirtue Ethics, Thomas Hobbes, History of Political Thought, Utilitarianism, Ancient Philosophy, Baruch Spinoza, Epicureanism, Pierre Gassendi, Jeremy Bentham, Epicureanism and Stoicism, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophical schools, Jean-Marie Guyau, Claude-Adrien Helvétius, and François de La Rochefoucauld
"Contents" for The Selected Writings of Pierre Hadot: Philosophy as Practice, co-translated by M. Sharpe and F. Testa, with a Foreword by A. Davidson and D. Lorenzini, (to be) published June 2020.
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This is an extract of the current version (work in progress) of my translation of Jean-Marie Guyau's 'The Ethics of Epicurus' (Book 4, Chapter 3), co-edited with Keith Ansell-Pearson (Bloomsbury, forthcoming). I am grateful to Bloomsbury... more
This is an extract of the current version (work in progress) of my translation of Jean-Marie Guyau's 'The Ethics of Epicurus' (Book 4, Chapter 3), co-edited with Keith Ansell-Pearson (Bloomsbury, forthcoming). I am grateful to Bloomsbury - and Liza Thompson in particular - for making the publication of this extract possible.
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This collection of writings from Pierre Hadot (1992-2010) presents, for the first time, previously unreleased and in some cases untranslated materials from one of the world's most prominent classical philosophers and historians of... more
This collection of writings from Pierre Hadot (1992-2010) presents, for the first time, previously unreleased and in some cases untranslated materials from one of the world's most prominent classical philosophers and historians of thought.
As a passionate proponent of philosophy as a 'way of life' (most powerfully communicated in the life of Socrates), Pierre Hadot rejuvenated interest in the ancient philosophers and developed a philosophy based on their work which is peculiarly contemporary. His radical recasting of philosophy in the West was both provocative and substantial. Indeed, Michel Foucault cites Pierre Hadot as a major influence on his work.
This beautifully written, lucid collection of writings will not only be of interest to historians, classicists and philosophers but also those interested in nourishing, as Pierre Hadot himself might have put it, a 'spiritual life'.
As a passionate proponent of philosophy as a 'way of life' (most powerfully communicated in the life of Socrates), Pierre Hadot rejuvenated interest in the ancient philosophers and developed a philosophy based on their work which is peculiarly contemporary. His radical recasting of philosophy in the West was both provocative and substantial. Indeed, Michel Foucault cites Pierre Hadot as a major influence on his work.
This beautifully written, lucid collection of writings will not only be of interest to historians, classicists and philosophers but also those interested in nourishing, as Pierre Hadot himself might have put it, a 'spiritual life'.
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Translation of the 'Introduction' of Guyau's 'La Morale d'Épicure'.
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Translation (Italian to Portuguese) of Markus Gabriel's paper, presented at the "Sujeito, liberdade e questão da existência" symposium (August, 2011, UFC, Brazil. Org. Prof. Konrad Utz.); -- Tradução, do italiano para o português, do... more
Translation (Italian to Portuguese) of Markus Gabriel's paper, presented at the "Sujeito, liberdade e questão da existência" symposium (August, 2011, UFC, Brazil. Org. Prof. Konrad Utz.); -- Tradução, do italiano para o português, do texto de Markus Gabriel, proferido como a primeira palestra do Ciclo de Palestras "Sujeito, liberdade e questão da existência" (16, 22, 23 e 24 de agosto, 2011, UFC, Brasil. Org. Prof. Konrad Utz).
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E se, além de um conjunto de doutrinas, enunciados teóricos e sistemas conceptuais, a filosofia pudesse ser pensada como algo vivido, como uma condição existencial e como a escolha fundamental de um modo de vida? E se a verdade que buscam... more
E se, além de um conjunto de doutrinas, enunciados teóricos e sistemas conceptuais, a filosofia pudesse ser pensada como algo vivido, como uma condição existencial e como a escolha fundamental de um modo de vida? E se a verdade que buscam os filósofos não fosse somente um corpo de conhecimentos teóricos sobre o mundo, mas uma verdade capaz de transformar-nos eticamente? É essa imagem da filosofia que propõem autores como Pierre Hadot ou Michel Foucault. Para esses autores, os exercícios espirituais, as técnicas de si e as artes de viver dos antigos e de todas as suas recuperações ao longo da história do pensamento ocidental revelam uma outra história da filosofia. Tomando como ponto de partida e inspiração esta reinterpretação da história da filosofia, o volume que aqui se apresenta consiste numa coletânea de ensaios subordinados ao tema «filosofia como modo de vida», escritos por alguns dos mais renomados autores do debate anglófono contemporâneo.
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This thesis investigates the trajectory of the concept of life in Michel Foucault’s work. Foucault famously claims that in the 18th and 19th centuries life became politicised. This politicisation of life, he argues, culminated in the... more
This thesis investigates the trajectory of the concept of life in Michel Foucault’s work. Foucault famously claims that in the 18th and 19th centuries life became politicised. This politicisation of life, he argues, culminated in the formation of a distinctively modern ‘bio-political’ paradigm. This thesis develops a new interpretation of Foucault’s politics of life. To do so it shows that we can best interpret Foucault’s politics of life from the perspective of Georges Canguilhem’s philosophically informed histories of science. Foucault repeatedly acknowledged his theoretical, historical and contextual debt to Canguilhem, stressing the latter’s importance in shaping the intellectual and epistemological field in which he situated his own work. Following this lead, the thesis shows how Canguilhem’s historical analysis of medicine, physiology and pathology, especially his conceptions of vital normativity and norms, establish the parameters of Foucault’s analysis of the emergence of the notion of life in modern medicine, science and politics. Second, it argues that Canguilhem’s notions of norm and normativity enable us to connect the different moments of Foucault’s work on the politics of life as a coherent perspective. Third, and importantly, the thesis shows how this new interpretation of Foucault’s politics of life fatally undermines the common criticism that his work suffers from a normative deficit or has a “crypto-normative” character. Through Canguilhem’s concepts of norm and normativity, it demonstrates that the flipside of Foucault’s detailed descriptions of normalising power is a plausible account of normativity. By reading Foucault through the lens of a Canguilhem inspired framework, it reconceptualises normativity as a process of the creation of norms. To articulate a possible notion of normativity present in Foucault’s work, the thesis formulates and develops a concept of ‘alternormativity’. Rather than a type of anti-normativity, it demonstrates that Foucault’s politics of life turns on this notion of alternormativity or the creation of new norms and ways of life in the context of biopolitical governmentality.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Social Theory, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Political Theory, and 11 moreHistory of Medicine, Contemporary French Philosophy, Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault, Biopolitics, Historical Epistemology, Philosophy of Life, Philosophy as a way of life, Vitalism, Foucault Studies, and Ethics of Care of the Self
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O presente trabalho visa estabelecer um exercício de perspectiva entre arte e loucura. Atentando para aquilo que é outro, heterogêneo, estrangeiro, constrói- se o terreno para perguntar o que pode a loucura dizer e revelar sobre a arte e... more
O presente trabalho visa estabelecer um exercício de perspectiva entre arte e loucura. Atentando para aquilo que é outro, heterogêneo, estrangeiro, constrói- se o terreno para perguntar o que pode a loucura dizer e revelar sobre a arte e a história da arte, e o que pode a arte dizer sobre a loucura. Paralelamente, pergunta-se pelo potencial da antropologia em relação a ambas: como a etnografia e a atitude antropológica podem se construir como paradigma para a teoria e a crítica de arte? A partir da imersão etnográfica em um contexto de reclusão onde arte e loucura se encontram - a oficina de criatividade de um hospital psiquiátrico -, pergunta-se o que podem a antropologia e a etnografia diante da loucura, suas obras e processos. Discute-se, então, uma “virada etnográfica” na arte contemporânea e uma “virada antropológica” ou “etnográfica”, ainda por realizar, na crítica de arte, situando-a enquanto experiência vivida, imersão e criação. Como transformar essas experiências em paradigma para pensar não só as artes dos outros, mas outras artes, outras possibilidades e modos de ser da arte? A partir de visões de diferentes formas pelas quais a busca e o contato com a alteridade se fizeram nas artes visuais, chega-se a indagar pela arte dos loucos. Nesse percurso são mobilizados diferentes referenciais como o Surrealismo, Jean Dubuffet, Arnulf Rainer, Bispo do Rosário, Michel Foucault, entre outros. Nesse exercício, não se perdeu de vista a dimensão política da exclusão dos atores sociais tidos como loucos. A escrita foi vista enquanto tarefa ética frente à memória do sofrimento dos excluídos. A todo o instante, é retomado o questionamento sobre como seguir a linha que liga arte e loucura, sem confirmar compromissos policiais e asilares com as instituições intoleráveis e repressivas de nossa cultura.
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This thesis seeks to undertake an exercise of perspective between the fields of art and madness. Focusing on what is heterogeneous, foreign and other with respect to ourselves and our culture, the thesis poses the following question: what can madness reveal about art and the history of art, and what can art tell us about madness? The thesis also explores the potential of anthropology in relation to both art and madness: how can ethnography and an anthropological attitude constitute themselves as a paradigm for art criticism and the theory of art? Starting with the ethnographic immersion into a universe of reclusion where art and madness meet – the creativity workshop of a psychiatric hospital -, this dissertation investigates the potentialities of anthropology and ethnography in face of madness, its works and processes. An “ethnographic turn” in contemporary art is, then, discussed, as well as an “ethnographic turn”, yet to accomplish, in art criticism, which would present criticism as intensive experience, immersion and process of creation. How to transform these experiences into a paradigm not only to think the arts of the others (“outsider arts”), but also to think other modes of art, different possibilities and alternative concepts of art? Beginning with several different ways by which the quest and the contact with alterity and otherness were made in the visual arts, the thesis explores the art of the insane. Along this path, different artistic and philosophical references are mobilized such as Surrealism, Jean Dubuffet, Arnulf Rainer, Bispo do Rosário, Michel Foucault, among others. In this exercise, the thesis never loses sight of the political aspects regarding the process of exclusion of social actors categorized as mad. The act of writing was seen as an ethical task facing the necessity of remembering the suffering inflicted to the the so-called mad by society. The text constantly reiterates the question about how to follow the path that connects art and madness without confirming compromises with intolerable and repressive institutions of our culture.
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This thesis seeks to undertake an exercise of perspective between the fields of art and madness. Focusing on what is heterogeneous, foreign and other with respect to ourselves and our culture, the thesis poses the following question: what can madness reveal about art and the history of art, and what can art tell us about madness? The thesis also explores the potential of anthropology in relation to both art and madness: how can ethnography and an anthropological attitude constitute themselves as a paradigm for art criticism and the theory of art? Starting with the ethnographic immersion into a universe of reclusion where art and madness meet – the creativity workshop of a psychiatric hospital -, this dissertation investigates the potentialities of anthropology and ethnography in face of madness, its works and processes. An “ethnographic turn” in contemporary art is, then, discussed, as well as an “ethnographic turn”, yet to accomplish, in art criticism, which would present criticism as intensive experience, immersion and process of creation. How to transform these experiences into a paradigm not only to think the arts of the others (“outsider arts”), but also to think other modes of art, different possibilities and alternative concepts of art? Beginning with several different ways by which the quest and the contact with alterity and otherness were made in the visual arts, the thesis explores the art of the insane. Along this path, different artistic and philosophical references are mobilized such as Surrealism, Jean Dubuffet, Arnulf Rainer, Bispo do Rosário, Michel Foucault, among others. In this exercise, the thesis never loses sight of the political aspects regarding the process of exclusion of social actors categorized as mad. The act of writing was seen as an ethical task facing the necessity of remembering the suffering inflicted to the the so-called mad by society. The text constantly reiterates the question about how to follow the path that connects art and madness without confirming compromises with intolerable and repressive institutions of our culture.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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Dois ensaios críticos curtos, referentes a (a) "reflexões" e (b) "percepções" sobre a Ilha do Presídio, em Porto Alegre. Os ensaios foram produzidos no âmbito do projeto "Island Sessions" (Encontros na Ilha), e publicados no sítio da... more
Dois ensaios críticos curtos, referentes a (a) "reflexões" e (b) "percepções" sobre a Ilha do Presídio, em Porto Alegre. Os ensaios foram produzidos no âmbito do projeto "Island Sessions" (Encontros na Ilha), e publicados no sítio da mostra 9ª Bienal do Mercosul, em 2013.
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Two short critical essays, containing (a) "reflections" and (b) "perceptions" about Ilha do Presídio, in Porto Alegre. These essays were produced in the context of the "Island Sessions" project, part of the 9ª Bienal do Mercosul art exhibition (2013).
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Two short critical essays, containing (a) "reflections" and (b) "perceptions" about Ilha do Presídio, in Porto Alegre. These essays were produced in the context of the "Island Sessions" project, part of the 9ª Bienal do Mercosul art exhibition (2013).
Research Interests:
TESTA, Federico. Imaginação e matéria na paisagem de Guignard. In: Livro de Resumos / XXI Salão de Iniciação Científica da UFRGS, XVIII Feira de Iniciação Científica, IV Salão UFRGS Jovem, 2009, Porto Alegre: UFRGS, 2009. A partir do... more
TESTA, Federico. Imaginação e matéria na paisagem de Guignard. In: Livro de Resumos / XXI Salão de Iniciação Científica da UFRGS, XVIII Feira de Iniciação Científica, IV Salão UFRGS Jovem, 2009, Porto Alegre: UFRGS, 2009.
A partir do levantamento bibliográfico sobre a noção de paisagem e sobre o pintor e o modernismo brasileiro, ensaiou-se uma perspectiva interpretativa das pinturas de paisagem de Alberto da Veiga Guignard (1896-1962). Para isso, foi privilegiado o critério de uma experiência efetiva da presença das obras, em exposição. A pesquisa se propôs sondar como as noções de imaginação e matéria aparecem e se articulam em Guignard como formas de poetizar o espaço, de maneira a conceber um caráter pictórico singular, manifesto na centralidade conferida à paisagem. Uma paisagem, no entanto, lírica e onírica, na qual predomina uma dissolução crescente dos contornos, uma instabilidade da forma e uma ênfase às luminosidades e à cor, tratadas através de uma rarefação crescente, de maneira a arrancar a matéria de sua solidez, fazendo-a participar de um devaneio poético fluido e rarefeito. A passagem à centralidade da paisagem parece estar marcada por mudanças técnicas e temáticas. Através da paisagem, Guignard continua a tratar dos signos do nacional, no entanto de forma menos 'pragmática' e absoluta do que aquela que foi, em geral, a dos modernistas de 1922. O pintor o faz através da transfiguração, fazendo-se mais lírico, e não centralizando as retóricas e narrativas grandiloqüentes da identidade, mas a imaginação, o espaço poético: um espaço esvaziado de sua referencialidade, e que se desrealiza (enquanto remetendo a um referente no real exterior à pintura), mas que se realiza enquanto poético.
A partir do levantamento bibliográfico sobre a noção de paisagem e sobre o pintor e o modernismo brasileiro, ensaiou-se uma perspectiva interpretativa das pinturas de paisagem de Alberto da Veiga Guignard (1896-1962). Para isso, foi privilegiado o critério de uma experiência efetiva da presença das obras, em exposição. A pesquisa se propôs sondar como as noções de imaginação e matéria aparecem e se articulam em Guignard como formas de poetizar o espaço, de maneira a conceber um caráter pictórico singular, manifesto na centralidade conferida à paisagem. Uma paisagem, no entanto, lírica e onírica, na qual predomina uma dissolução crescente dos contornos, uma instabilidade da forma e uma ênfase às luminosidades e à cor, tratadas através de uma rarefação crescente, de maneira a arrancar a matéria de sua solidez, fazendo-a participar de um devaneio poético fluido e rarefeito. A passagem à centralidade da paisagem parece estar marcada por mudanças técnicas e temáticas. Através da paisagem, Guignard continua a tratar dos signos do nacional, no entanto de forma menos 'pragmática' e absoluta do que aquela que foi, em geral, a dos modernistas de 1922. O pintor o faz através da transfiguração, fazendo-se mais lírico, e não centralizando as retóricas e narrativas grandiloqüentes da identidade, mas a imaginação, o espaço poético: um espaço esvaziado de sua referencialidade, e que se desrealiza (enquanto remetendo a um referente no real exterior à pintura), mas que se realiza enquanto poético.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
"E se, além de um conjunto de doutrinas, enunciados teóricos e sistemas conceptuais, a filosofia pudesse ser pensada como algo vivido, como uma condição existencial e como a escolha fundamental de um modo de vida? E se a verdade que... more
"E se, além de um conjunto de doutrinas, enunciados teóricos e sistemas conceptuais, a filosofia pudesse ser pensada como algo vivido, como uma condição existencial e como a escolha fundamental de um modo de vida? E se a verdade que buscam os filósofos não fosse somente um corpo de conhecimentos teóricos sobre o mundo, mas uma verdade capaz de transformar-nos eticamente? É essa imagem da filosofia que propõem autores como Pierre Hadot ou Michel Foucault. Para esses autores, os exercícios espirituais, as técnicas de si e as artes de viver dos antigos e de todas as suas recuperações ao longo da história do pensamento ocidental revelam uma outra história da filosofia. Tomando como ponto de partida e inspiração esta reinterpretação da história da filosofia, o volume que aqui se apresenta consiste numa coletânea de ensaios subordinados ao tema «filosofia como modo de vida», escritos por alguns dos mais renomados autores do debate anglófono contemporâneo. (...)"