The Body Politic in Western Political Thought

Dozent/in	Dr. Signy Gutnick Allen
Veranstaltungsart	Hauptseminar
Code	FS261529
Semester	Frühjahrssemester 2026
Durchführender Fachbereich	Geschichte
Studienstufe	Bachelor Master
Termin/e	wöchentlich (Do), ab 19.02.2026, 12:15 - 14:00 Uhr, HS 12
Umfang	2 Semesterwochenstunden
Turnus	wöchentlich
Inhalt	This course explores how the metaphor of ‘the body’ both reflected and influenced Early Modern and Enlightenment political thinking. We will consider how the state itself was understood as a ‘body politic’, and how this image was used to both naturalise and challenge power hierachies within in it. Alongside such abstractions, however, we will also examine how the discipline and display of actual bodies played a role in conceptualising the state and its membership, by looking at how advances in early modern scientific and medical knowledge and practice were used to define the ‘ideal citizen’.
Schlagworte	Gender/Diversity
Voraussetzungen	Note that the course will be taught in English, so a good working knowledge of the language is important.
Sprache	Englisch
Anmeldung	***Wichtig*** Um Credits zu erwerben ist die Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung über das UniPortal zwingend erforderlich. Die Anmeldung ist ab zwei Wochen vor bis zwei Wochen nach Beginn des Semesters möglich. An- und Abmeldungen sind nach diesem Zeitraum nicht mehr möglich. Die genauen Anmeldedaten finden Sie hier: http://www.unilu.ch/ksf/semesterdaten
Abschlussform / Credits	Aktive Teilnahme / 4 Credits
Literatur	The course will use a mix of primary and historiographical sources. Indicative primary sources include Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan (1651), works by William Harvey (1578-1657), and Rembrandt’s painting ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ (1632). Other readings will include ‘Foreign Bodies and the Body Politic’ (JG Harris, 1998), ‘Gendering the Renaissance Commonwealth’ (Anna Becker, 2019) and ‘The King’s Two Bodies’ (Ernst Kantorowicz, 1957).