Critica dell’economia politica o analitica dei poteri. Punti di eresia tra Marx e Foucault

The thesis is dedicated to a comparative reading of the thought of Karl Marx and Michel Foucault. By putting these authors in to dialogue, the thesis questions the allegded divergence and the consequent alternative choice between the two theoretical frameworks that are usually associated with their thought: the divergence between the Marxian «critique of political economy» and the Foucauldian «analytics of powers». Beginning with a critical reconstruction of some contemporary attempts to articulate Marx’s and Foucault’s thoughts, the thesis defends the idea that, without a clarification of the relationship between their concepts, any articulation is necessarily aporetic. The research thus aims to make such a clarification by overcoming supposed antinomies dividing certain Foucauldian and Marxian concepts. Starting from the similarities between Foucault’s and Marx’s practices of «inquiry», we move beyond false alternatives between the concepts of «power» and «exploitation», «norms» and «ideology», «subjectification» and «alienation». To surpass theses antinomies, we deploy the notion of «points of heresy», that has been introduced by Étienen Balibar to describe the Marx-Foucault relationship. Unlike Balibar, however, we propose to use this notion not to sever but to concatenate Marxian and Foucauldian concepts. We thus argue that reading Marx’s and Foucault’s texts in light of each other allows for the identification of several «heretical» insights within their respective theories, useful within contemporary debates in political philosophy and critical theory.