Research article

Departure from the rule of law as the consolidation of biopower. Example of Polish legislation justified by fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Article authors
  1. Arkadiusz Barut

Odejście od rządów prawa jako ugruntowanie biowładzy. Przykład legislacji polskiej uzasadnianej walką z pandemią wirusa COVID-19.

Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej, nr 3(28)/2021, s. 5-21

English

Abstract

Throughout this article the author interprets the crisis of the rule law in Poland in 2020 caused by the phenomenon described as Covid-19 pandemic as the solidification and consolidation of biopower – the contribution of ideas and practices justified by the findings of natural sciences to the disestablishment of paradigms hitherto recognized as fundamental to the creation and application of law, that is the due process of law or its formal justice. I proceed from the assumption that the creation and application of law must be grounded in phronesis — the Aristotelian prudence, that is the intellectual process of assessment of not only the means but also the goals. Thanks to the discernment of both the goals and the means in the same cognitive act, one gains the opportunity to distinguish individual cases and insight into specific situations. I assume the phronetics of law to justify and at once enable its acquisition of the property referred to as justice in its formal sense — predictability, non-retroactivity, generality of regulation, and so on. If, on the other hand, the law becomes subordinated to paradigms justified with the use of natural sciences, it ceases to fulfil its function. Biopower invades the legal sphere as a discourse of necessity, such a necessity is in itself the very opposite of the fine art of balancing the various competing interests, appreciating the importance of form and ritual, distinguishing the various individual cases. The purpose of this article is to analyse the impact of the crisis referred to as the Covid-19 pandemic on law and in no way to pronounce on the medical aspects of its proliferation or express a moral or political judgement of the actions justified by the need to contain it.

Keywords

  • Covid – 19
  • pandemic
  • biopower
  • rule of law
  • Foucault
  • Legendre
  • Agamben
Full text PDF How to cite

References

28 reference entries

References

  1. Agamben, G. (2005). State of Exception. Chicago — London: The University of Chicago Press.

  2. Agamben, G. (2008). Homo sacer. Suwerenna władza i nagie życie (M. Salwa trans.). Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka.

  3. Arendt, H. (1998). The Human Condition. Chicago-London 1998.

  4. Arendt, H. (2003). O rewolucji (M. Godyń trans.). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Aletheia.

  5. Arendt, H. (2008). Korzenie totalitaryzmu (D. Grinberg, M. Szawiel trans.). Warszawa: WAIP.

  6. Barut, A. (2017). Prawo jako konstytuowanie człowieczeństwa. Koncepcja Pierre’a Legendre’a. Studia Prawnicze KUL 2017(2), 7-25.

  7. Barut, A. (2015). Prawa człowieka — symboliczna podstawa sfery politycznej czy czynnik jej zaniku? Polemika Claude’a Leforta z Hanną Arendt. Studia Polityczne 38, 55-74.

  8. Barut, A. (2015). A-podmiotowość władzy – mit i rzeczywistość, czyli Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych jako władza „suwerenna”. Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej 11, 27-41.

  9. Butler, J. (2004). Precarious life. The powers of mourning and violence. London, New York: Verso.

  10. Cisney, V. W., Morar, N. (eds.). (2016). Biopower: Foucault and Beyond. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

  11. Dillon, M. (2005). Cared to Death. Foucault Studies 2015(2), 37-46.

  12. Dobrzeniecki, K. (2018). Prawo wobec sytuacji nadzwyczajnej. Między legalizmem a koniecznością. Toruń: TNOIK.

  13. Douzinas, C. (2000). The End of Human rights. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

  14. Foucault, M. (2003). Society Must Be Defended. Lectures at the Collège de France (D. Macey trans.). New York: Picador.

  15. Foucault, M. (2010). Bezpieczeństwo, terytorium, populacja (M. Herer trans.). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

  16. Genel, K. (2006). The question of biopower: Foucault and Agamben, Rethinking Marxism. A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society 18, 43-62.

  17. Goodrich, P. (2010). Nieświadomość jest prawnikiem. Psychoanaliza i prawo w dziele Pierre’a Legendre’a. Kronos 14.

  18. Legendre, P. (1999). Sur la question dogmatique en Occident. Paris: Fayard.

  19. Legendre, P. (2005). Le désir politique de Dieu. Saint-Amand-Montrond: Fayard.

  20. Legendre, P. (2011). Zbrodnia kaprala Lortiego. Traktat o ojcu (A. Dwulit trans.). Warszawa: Biblioteka Kwartlanika KRONOS.

  21. Lemke, T. (2001). The birth of bio-politics: Michel Foucault’s lecture at the Collèège de France on neo-liberal governmentality. Economy and society 30, 190-207.

  22. Lemke, T. (2005). A zone of indistinction – A critique of Giorgio Agamben’s concept of biopolitics. Outlines 7(1), 3–13.

  23. Lemke, T. (2011). Biopolitics: An Advanced Introduction (E. F Trump trans.). New York: NYU Press.

  24. Nadesan, M. (2008). Governmentality, Biopower, and Everyday Life. New York, Abingdon: Routledge.

  25. Neal, A. (2004). Cutting Off the King’s Head: Foucault’s Society Must Be Defended and the Problem of Sovereignty. Alternatives: A Journal of World Policy 29, 373-398.

  26. Ojakangas, M. (2016). On the Greek Origins of Biopolitics: A Reinterpretation of the History of Biopower. London, New York: Routledge.

  27. Saint-Germain, Ch. (2011). Les leçons de Pierre Legendre Sur la casse subjective: nouvelle clinique juridique autour du tiers? Revue de droit 41, 671-721.

  28. Sawicki, J. (2016). Precarious Life: Butler and Foucault on Biopolitics. In V. W. Cisney, N. Morar (eds.), Biopower: Foucault and Beyond (pp. 229- 242). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Publication information

Author and affiliation

Arkadiusz Barut

University of Wrocław

Issue data

Issue nr 3(28)/2021

Pages
5-21
Published

How to cite

Bibliographic description and verified export formats.

Format AFPiFS

A. Barut, Departure from the rule of law as the consolidation of biopower. Example of Polish legislation justified by fighting the Covid-19 pandemic., „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej” nr 3(28)/2021, s. 5–21, DOI: 10.36280/afpifs.2021.3.5