In this episode of the EuroStorie Podcast, we get to know Marco Piasentier, the new team leader of Subproject 2, Discovering the Limits of Reason – Europe and the Crisis of Universalism, who helps us unpack the concept of biopolitics. Drawing from the enquiries developed by Michel Foucault in the 1970s, biopolitics refers to perspectives concerned with the entrance of biological life into the sphere of political techniques. We ask questions such as: How has biopolitics emerged in the course of European history? And what is the relationship between biopolitics and the revolutions in scientific thought that occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries? Exploring the meaning of biopolitics in the present day and age, we also discuss its relevance to contemporary debates on the Covid pandemic and climate change.

This project is supported by the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Law, History and the European Narratives. Podcast hosts: Aada Pettersson and Floris van Doorn.