EMERGENCIES AND PROCEEDINGS OF PASTORAL POWER IN FOUCAULT: A LOOK AT THE GOVERNMENT OF CONDUITS

A Lool at the government of conduits

Abstract

Abstract: This papper seeks to present the emergencies and provenance of pastoral power in Michel Foucault from the problem of the governmentality of conduct. Generally speaking, pastoral power is an arm of a larger project, thought by the French intellectual called the political history of governmentality. Its emergencies and provenance are inscribed in the great novelty inaugurated by some Eastern cultures and perfected by Christianity in regard to the problem of the management and salvation of souls. It is from such a perspective that our text seeks to understand these historical and political effects of pastoral power. For, in our considerations, we seek to articulate, based on Foucaultian thought, the possible resonances of this modality of governmentality in the modern state and its contemporary theatricalization highlighted by the rise of Christian fundamentalist groups and their respective attacks on the democratic rule of law.