ABSTRACT

Contemporary Italian philosophers criticise neoliberalism for dispossessing human beings of their own potentialities. With his genealogy of the dispositif of personhood, Roberto Esposito provides a framework for delineating the discursive resources that have generated popular consensus over this expropriation of human potentiality. Esposito argues that, from ancient Christianity to modern liberalism, philosophers have conceptualised ‘the person’ as a disembodied entity in control of her body but subordinated to God for the correct employment of bodily potentialities. I argue that the neoliberal discourse of human capital theory uses similar oppositions to subjugate human beings and the actualisation of their potentialities to free market competition. Neoliberal subjects are discursively rendered responsible for the correct use of their human capital, not in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of a market that, through competition, rewards those who obey market imperatives and punishes those who do not.

摘要

当代意大利哲学家批评新自由主义剥夺人类自身的潜力。罗伯托·埃斯波西托（Roberto Esposito）基于人格特征的家谱，提供了一个框架，用于描述各种话语资源，这些话语资源对这种对人类潜力的剥夺引起了普遍共识。埃斯波西托认为，从古代基督教到现代自由主义，哲学家将“人”概念化为控制身体的无形实体，但为了正确地运用身体潜能而服从上帝。我认为，人力资本理论的新自由主义话语使用了类似的对立来征服人类，并实现了人们对自由市场竞争的潜力的实现。