POLITICS OF THE BODY AND METAPHYSICS OF THE SOUL: TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCTIVITY OF POWER

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of power practices in relation to the human body and soul over the last two centuries. It is argued that the original focus of power on the thinking soul has gradually shifted to the body, which has become a direct object of political governance. The study reveals the mechanisms of transition from sovereign power to disciplinary and biopolitical forms, in which the body functions as both a medium of subjectivity and a space for investing power relations. The article traces the epistemological shift in philosophy and the human sciences, manifested in the growing attention to physiology, psychology, and sexuality, which not only generates knowledge about the body but also produces new forms of power. It is shown that the «turn to the body» in 20th-century philosophy reflects both the political integration of the body into mechanisms of power and its deconstruction as an autonomous space. The interrelation between knowledge about the body, philosophical reflections on corporeality, and the management of life as a political object is explored, marking the transition from the metaphysics of the soul to the governance of the body. The study demonstrates that contemporary power operates not only as a form of external control but also as a principle of individualization, regulating the subject through processes of inclusion and exclusion. The inclusion and transformation of the body into a locus of power both elevates and liberates it while simultaneously deconstructing it, gradually turning the human body into a sign or biological life. The research is grounded in methodological approaches including critical, dialectical, hermeneutic, genealogical, and comparative analysis, alongside the general scientific principles of objectivity and historicism.