Daniele Lorenzini
Post-Kantian European philosophy and social & political philosophy constitute the center of gravity of my work, but I also possess areas of scholarly and teaching expertise in applied ethics, ordinary language philosophy, philosophy & literature, and the history & philosophy of human rights.
I recently completed a book manuscript titled The Force of Truth: Critique, Genealogy, and Truth-Telling in Michel Foucault, on Foucault’s history of truth and what I call ‘possibilising genealogyLink opens in a new window’, which is forthcoming with University of Chicago Press.
In the book based on my doctoral dissertation, Éthique et politique de soi: Foucault, Hadot, Cavell et les techniques de l'ordinaireLink opens in a new window (2015), I combine the works of Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot, and Stanley Cavell in order to elaborate a perspective that I call a ‘descriptive analytic philosophy of politics and power’. My aim is to study both the concrete functioning of power in its ordinary ramifications and a series of ‘techniques of the ordinary’ playing the role of (ethical) practices of resistance. I thus question the sharp distinction that is generally traced between moral and political philosophy, and that Foucault scholars tend to draw between his work of the 1970s (on the analytics of power) and his work of the 1980s (on the ethics of the self). Instead, I show that processes of subjectivity-constitution emerge from the complex interplay between technologies of power and practices of the self, which therefore need to be addressed jointly. The book is currently being translated into English.
My last published book, La force du vrai: De Foucault à AustinLink opens in a new window (2017), starts from these same premises in order to explore the moral and political aspects of the practice of truth-telling in Western societies. Combining Foucault’s analysis of ancient parrēsia with J. L. Austin, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, and Jacques Derrida’s respective treatments of performatives, as well as Cavell’s conception of passionate utterance, I analyse the effects of subjection and subjectivation of a series of specific acts of truth-telling. By addressing the ‘perlocutionary force’ of speech, widely neglected in contemporary philosophy of language, my aim is to show that the efficacy of language cannot be reduced to its pragmatic force, but instead requires analysis of its ‘dramatic’ dimensions, that is, its contribution to the shaping of the subject herself. With words, we do not only do things; we also create and transform ourselves as subjects.
My first book, Jacques Maritain e i diritti umani: Fra totalitarismo, antisemitismo e democraziaLink opens in a new window (2012), discusses Maritain’s distinctive contribution to the post-Second World War human rights project. It is the first monograph that reconstructs the history of the Committee of Catholics for Human Rights and addresses its relevance for crucial developments in Maritain’s thought during the 1940s. The book is currently being translated into English.
Teaching
In 2021-2022, I taught an UG module on Existence, Experience, History: Key Topics in Continental PhilosophyLink opens in a new window and a PG module on Genealogy, Epistemology, CritiqueLink opens in a new window in the Autumn term, as well as a PG module on Topics in 20th Century French PhilosophyLink opens in a new window in the Spring term. I also guest lectured for the UG modules Introduction to PhilosophyLink opens in a new window and Comparative Philosophy in the Autumn and Spring terms, respectively.
Selected Publications
Books
The Force of Truth: Critique, Genealogy, and Truth-Telling in Michel Foucault (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming)
La force du vrai: De Foucault à AustinLink opens in a new window (Lormont: Le Bord de l’Eau, 2017)
Éthique et politique de soi: Foucault, Hadot, Cavell et les techniques de l’ordinaireLink opens in a new window (Paris: Vrin, 2015); English translation: Ethics and Politics of the Self: Foucault, Hadot, Cavell, and the Techniques of the Ordinary (New York: Bloomsbury, in preparation)
Jacques Maritain e i diritti umani: Fra totalitarismo, antisemitismo e democraziaLink opens in a new window (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2012); English translation: Jacques Maritain and Human RightsLink opens in a new window (South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, forthcoming)
Refereed Journal Articles
“Reason versus Power: Genealogy, Critique, and Epistemic InjusticeLink opens in a new window”, The Monist, 105:4 (2022), pp. 541-557
“La fragilité de l'intellect: Martha Nussbaum, Aristote et la vie bonneLink opens in a new window”, Revue philosophique, 147 (2022), pp. 165-175
“Philosophical Discourse and Ascetic Practice: On Foucault’s Readings of Descartes’ MeditationsLink opens in a new window”, Theory, Culture & Society, 2021 (online first)
“On Possibilising GenealogyLink opens in a new window”, Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 2020 (online first)
“From Recognition to Acknowledgment: Rethinking the PerlocutionaryLink opens in a new window”, Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, 2020 (online first)
“Critique without Ontology: Genealogy, Collective Subjects, and the Deadlocks of EvidenceLink opens in a new window” (co-authored with M. Tazzioli), Radical Philosophy, 207 (2020), pp. 27-39
“Anarcheology and the Emergence of the Alethurgic Subject in Foucault’s On the Government of the LivingLink opens in a new window”, Foucault Studies (“Foucault Lectures” series), 3:1 (2020), pp. 53-70
“The Definition of Nonhuman Animal EuthanasiaLink opens in a new window”, Animal Studies Journal, 9:2 (2020), pp. 1-20
“Alèthurgie oculaire et littérature de témoignage: De Sophocle à SoljenitsyneLink opens in a new window”, Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 292 (2020), pp. 17-28
“The Emergence of Desire: Notes Toward a Political History of the WillLink opens in a new window”, Critical Inquiry, 45:2 (2019), pp. 448-470
“Stanley Cavell, 1926-2018Link opens in a new window”, Radical Philosophy, 203 (2018), pp. 122-126
“Governmentality, Subjectivity, and the Neoliberal Form of LifeLink opens in a new window”, Journal for Cultural Research, 22:2 (2018), pp. 154-166; republished in A. Cole & E. Ferrarese (eds.), How Capitalism Forms Our Lives (New York: Routledge, 2019)
“Confessional Subjects and Conducts of Non-Truth: Foucault, Fanon, and the Making of the SubjectLink opens in a new window” (co-authored with M. Tazzioli), Theory, Culture & Society, 35:1 (2018), pp. 71-90
“Benjamin/Foucault: Histoire, discontinuité, événementLink opens in a new window”, Phantasia, 7 (2018)
“Is Iris Murdoch a Perfectionist Philosopher?Link opens in a new window”, Iride: Philosophy and Public Discussion, 81 (2017), pp. 373-384
“Briser le silence: La prise de parole entre infrapolitique et parrêsiaLink opens in a new window” (co-authored with O. Irrera), Raisons politiques, 68 (2017), pp. 65-82
“From Counter-Conduct to Critical Attitude: Michel Foucault and the Art of Not Being Governed Quite So MuchLink opens in a new window”, Foucault Studies, 21 (2016), pp. 7-21
“Performative, Passionate, and Parrhesiastic Utterance: On Cavell, Foucault, and Truth as an Ethical ForceLink opens in a new window”, Critical Inquiry, 41:2 (2015), pp. 254-268
“What Is a ‘Regime of TruthLink opens in a new window’Link opens in a new window?Link opens in a new window”, Le Foucaldien, 1:1 (2015)
“Foucault and the Analytic Philosophy of PoliticsLink opens in a new window”, Carceral Notebooks, 9 (2013), pp. 97-102
“Must We Do What We Say? Truth, Responsibility and the Ordinary in Ancient and Modern PerfectionismLink opens in a new window”, European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 2:2 (2010), pp. 16-34
Book Chapters
“Foucault, Governmentality, and the Techniques of the Self”, in M. Tazzioli & W. Walters (eds.), Handbook of Governmentality (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, forthcoming)
“Living Philosophically: Stanley Cavell, Moral Perfectionism, and Spiritual Exercises”, in P. Marrati (ed.), Understanding Cavell, Understanding Modernism (New York: Bloomsbury, forthcoming)
“Pour ou contre l’identité? Assujettissement, subjectivation, autonomie”, in Ph. Sabot (ed.), Discours et politiques de l'identitéLink opens in a new window (Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2022), pp. 21-30
“L’ordinaire à l’épreuve du perlocutoire”, in P. Fasula & S. Laugier (eds.), Les concepts de l'ordinaireLink opens in a new window (Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2021), pp. 149-162
“Du sujet de désir au sujet de droit: Une généalogie chrétienne de la gouvernementalité néolibérale?”, in J. Leclercq (ed.), Les humains et leurs divinités: Politique et religions en dialogueLink opens in a new window (Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2020), pp. 55-63
“La parrêsia: une improvisation éthique”, in J.-M. Narbonne, H.-J. Lüsebrink & H. Schlange-Schöningen (eds.), Foucault: Repenser les rapports entre les Grecs et les ModernesLink opens in a new window (Paris: Vrin/Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2020), pp. 147-170
“La politique du paradis: Foucault, Les Aveux de la chair et la généalogie du néolibéralisme”, in S. Boehringer & L. Laufer (eds.), Après “Les Aveux de la chair”: Généalogie du sujet chez Michel FoucaultLink opens in a new window (Paris: Epel, 2020), pp. 229-241
“Cogito et discours philosophique: Foucault lecteur de Descartes”, in K.S. Ong-Van-Cung (ed.), Les formes historiques du cogito: XVIIe-XXe sièclesLink opens in a new window (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2019), pp. 259-273
“Peut-on dire vrai en démocratie? Michel Foucault et la parrêsia comme forme de vie”, in E. Ferrarese & S. Laugier (eds.), Formes de vieLink opens in a new window (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2018), pp. 171-187
“La société disciplinaire: Généalogie d’un concept”, in I. Fouchard & D. Lorenzini (eds.), Sociétés carcérales: Relecture(s) de “Surveiller et punir”Link opens in a new window (Paris: Mare & Martin, 2017), pp. 21-29
“Foucault, Regimes of Truth, and the Making of the Subject”, in L. Cremonesi et al. (eds.), Foucault and the Making of SubjectsLink opens in a new window (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), pp. 63-75
“Ethics as Politics: Foucault, Hadot, Cavell, and the Critique of Our Present,” in M. Tazzioli, S. Fuggle & Y. Lanci (eds.), Foucault and the History of Our PresentLink opens in a new window (Basingstoke: Palsgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 223-235
“Subjetividad, poder y reconciliación” (co-authored with D. Fernández Agis), in D. Pérez Chico &A. García Ruíz (eds.), Perfeccionismo: Entre la ética política y la autonomía personalLink opens in a new window (Zaragoza: Prensas universitarias de Zaragoza, 2014), pp. 95-115
“Éthique et politique de nous-mêmes: À partir de Michel Foucault et Stanley Cavell”, in D. Lorenzini, A. Revel & A. Sforzini (eds.), Michel Foucault: Éthique et vérité, 1980-1984Link opens in a new window (Paris: Vrin, 2013), pp. 239-254
“‘That government is best which governs not at all’: Thoreau et les enjeux éthico-politiques de la désobéissance civile,” in A. Louis & A. Revel (eds.), L’art de gouverner: Questions éthiques et politiquesLink opens in a new window (Bern et al.: Peter Lang, 2013), pp. 25-38
“Foucault, il cinismo e la ‘vera vita’”, in L. Bernini (ed.), Michel Foucault, gli antichi e i moderni: Parrhesia, Aufklärung, ontologia dell’attualitàLink opens in a new window (Pisa: ETS, 2011), pp. 75-99
“La vie comme ‘réel’ de la philosophie: Cavell, Foucault, Hadot et les techniques de l’ordinaire,” in S. Laugier (ed.), La voix et la vertu: Variétés du perfectionnisme moralLink opens in a new window (Paris: P.U.F., 2010), pp. 469-487
Edited Volumes
Perlocutoire: Normativités et performativités du langage ordinaireLink opens in a new window (with S. Laugier, Paris: Mare & Martin, 2021)
Foucault et... Les liaisons dangereuses de Michel FoucaultLink opens in a new window (co-edited with A. Brossat, Paris: Vrin, 2021)
Sociétés carcérales: Relecture(s) de “Surveiller et punir”Link opens in a new window (co-edited with I. Fouchard, Paris: Mare & Martin, 2017)
Foucault(s)Link opens in a new window (co-edited with J.-F. Braunstein et al., Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2017)
Foucault and the Making of SubjectsLink opens in a new window (co-edited with L. Cremonesi et al., London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016)
Foucault/Wittgenstein: Subjectivité, politique, éthiqueLink opens in a new window (co-edited with P. Gillot, Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2016)
Foucault, la sexualité, l’AntiquitéLink opens in a new window (co-edited with S. Boehringer, Paris: Kimé, 2016); English translation: Foucault, Sexuality, AntiquityLink opens in a new window (New York: Routledge, 2022)
Michel Foucault: Éthique et vérité, 1980-1984Link opens in a new window (co-edited with A. Revel & A. Sforzini, Paris: Vrin, 2013)
Le travail de la littérature: Usages du littéraire en philosophieLink opens in a new window (co-edited with A. Revel, Rennes: P.U.R., 2012)
Refereed Journal Issues
“The Historical Forms and Contemporary Significance of Genealogy”, The Monist, forthcoming
“The Perlocutionary and the Illocutionary” (co-edited with S. Laugier), Inquiry, forthcoming
“Michel Foucault: Before the Collège de France” (co-edited with S. Elden & O. Irrera), Theory, Culture & Society, forthcoming
“La pensée populisteLink opens in a new window” (co-edited with M. Deleixhe & Q. Landenne), Revue européenne des sciences sociales, 58:2 (2020)
“Michel Foucault et la force des motsLink opens in a new window”, Phantasia, 8 (2019)
“Davidson and His InterlocutorsLink opens in a new window” (co-edited with R.T. Neer), Critical Inquiry, 45:2 (2019)
“Prises de parole: Les discours subalternesLink opens in a new window” (co-edited with O. Irrera), Raisons politiques, 68 (2017)
“Affetti e verità: L’esperienza della filosofia alla prova della scritturaLink opens in a new window” (co-edited with A. Revel), Iride: Philosophy and Public Discussion, 72 (2014)
“Les néolibéralismes de Michel FoucaultLink opens in a new window” (co-edited with F. Gros et al.), Raisons politiques, 52 (2013)
“Foucault, l’etica antica e lo scandalo della veritàLink opens in a new window”, Iride: Philosophy and Public Discussion, 66 (2012)
Books Edited (previously unpublished archival material)
Michel Foucault, Folie, langage, littératureLink opens in a new window (co-edited with H.-P. Fruchaud & J. Revel, Paris: Vrin, 2019); English edition: Madness, Language, LiteratureLink opens in a new window (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming)
Pierre Hadot, La philosophie comme éducation des adultes: Textes, perspectives, entretiensLink opens in a new window (co-edited with A.I. Davidson, Paris: Vrin, 2019)
Michel Foucault, Dire vrai sur soi-même: Conférences prononcées à l’Université Victoria de Toronto, 1982Link opens in a new window (co-edited with H.-P. Fruchaud, Paris: Vrin, 2017); English edition: Speaking the Truth about Oneself: Lectures at Victoria University, Toronto, 1982Link opens in a new window (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021)
Jacques Maritain, Contro l’antisemitismo: Dignità della persona, mistero di Israele, sionismoLink opens in a new window (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2016)
Michel Foucault, Discours et véritéLink opens in a new window (co-edited with H.-P. Fruchaud, Paris: Vrin, 2016); English edition: Discourse and TruthLink opens in a new window (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019)
Michel Foucault, Qu’est-ce que la critique? suivi de La culture de soiLink opens in a new window (co-edited with H.-P. Fruchaud, Paris: Vrin, 2015); English edition: What is Critique? and The Culture of the Self (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming)
Michel Foucault, L’origine de l’herméneutique de soi: Conférences prononcées à Dartmouth College, 1980Link opens in a new window (co-edited with H.-P. Fruchaud, Paris: Vrin, 2013); English edition: About the Beginning of the Hermeneutics of the Self: Lectures at Dartmouth College, 1980Link opens in a new window (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015)
Interviews & Media
“La volonté de savoir: Pourquoi voulons-nous tout connaître du sexe?Link opens in a new window”, Les chemins de la philosophie, France Culture, 20 June 2022
“Techniques of Self-Transformation: Iris Murdoch and Moral PerfectionismLink opens in a new window”, ABC Religion & Ethics, 5 October 2021
“Passe sanitaire, gestes barrières: Avons-nous basculé dans le biopouvoir?Link opens in a new window” (with Nidal Taibi), Marianne, 11 August 2021
“Biopolitics in the Time of CoronavirusLink opens in a new window”, Critical Inquiry Blog, 2 April 2020
“Jacques Maritain on Anti-Semitism and Human Rights: A Conversation with Daniele LorenziniLink opens in a new window” (with Brian Phillips), Journal of Human Rights Practice, 10:3 (2018), pp. 536-545
“Michel Foucault: Prácticas de libertad y políticas del decir veraz: Entrevista a Daniele LorenziniLink opens in a new window” (with Nelson Fernando Roberto Alba), Dorsal: Revista de Estudios Foucaultianos, 5 (2018), pp. 141-154
“Qu’est-ce que le perfectionnisme moral?Link opens in a new window”, Les chemins de la philosophie, France Culture, 5 September 2018
“Contro l’antisemitismoLink opens in a new window”, Radio Radicale, 13 September 2016
“Éthique et politique de soiLink opens in a new window”, Les nouveaux chemins de la connaissance, France Culture, 8 January 2016
“Le perfectionnisme moralLink opens in a new window”, Les nouveaux chemins de la connaissance, France Culture, 14 March 2013
More on my Academia pageLink opens in a new window and Google Scholar pageLink opens in a new window.
