The secular and the postsecular : subjectivity, power, Europe and Islam
This thesis explores the modes of subjectivation and the forms of power encompassed by the epistemic category of the secular with specific reference to recent controversies over Islam in Europe. The inquiry moves from the observation that contemporary reflections on postsecularity conceived as a normative ideal of inclusion of religious sensibilities in secular societies tend not to be grounded in an exploration of the constitution of the moral subject under conditions of secularity. Accordingly, the key questions driving this thesis are: How does the secular episteme as a power/knowledge formation based on the separation between knowledge and faith affect the process of constitution of the secular subject, with specific reference to his/her practices of solidarity and exclusion? And, how is it possible to conceive the postsecular? Drawing on Michel Foucault and engaging with the work of scholars such as Talal Asad, JosĂ© Casanova, Thomas Aquinas, RenĂ© Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Ămile Durkheim, Max Weber, Charles Taylor, Roberto Esposito, JĂŒrgen Habermas, Pope Benedict XVI, William Connolly, and Martin Buber, I suggest that the process of secular subjectivation is characterised by a triple process of withdrawal
Mavelli, Luca
The secular and the postsecular : subjectivity, power, Europe and Islam. This thesis explores the modes of subjectivation and the forms of power encompassed by the epistemic category of the secular with specific reference to recent controversies over Islam in Europe. The inquiry moves from the observation that contemporary reflections on postsecularity conceived as a normative ideal of inclusion of religious sensibilities in secular societies tend not to be grounded in an exploration of the constitution of the moral subject under conditions of secularity. Accordingly, the key questions driving this thesis are: How does the secular episteme as a power/knowledge formation based on the separation between knowledge and faith affect the process of constitution of the secular subject, with specific reference to his/her practices of solidarity and exclusion? And, how is it possible to conceive the postsecular? Drawing on Michel Foucault and engaging with the work of scholars such as Talal Asad, JosĂ© Casanova, Thomas Aquinas, RenĂ© Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Ămile Durkheim, Max Weber, Charles Taylor, Roberto Esposito, JĂŒrgen Habermas, Pope Benedict XVI, William Connolly, and Martin Buber, I suggest that the process of secular subjectivation is characterised by a triple process of withdrawal
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