The Body in the modern lattice of the power: corporal immanence and fragmentation in Descartes, Hobbes and Spinoza

Abstract

The modern human body conception carries weight in political theory. Three philosophical approaches to the body will be considered, according to three authors representative of each: Descartes, Hobbes, and Spinoza. The first target to go after is to elucidate what conceptual image the body acquires in these authors’ philosophies. In a second instance, it will be defined how the body conceptual image entails a relationship with a power form, which would perform either to press control or domination above human bodies or to be an element of corporal immanency. It will be posed how for Descartes the body is a machine that a rational soul should guide so that rationality prevails above the human individual's characteristic synthesis. On the other hand, in the case of Hobbes, the need to guide the bodies has to bring about an artificial body that will face the natural human violence belonging to the individuals. Regarding Spinoza, his philosophy does not involve the domination over the body but the activation of its immanent power, so in the political field this gives special relevance to the crowd.