The Government of Desire: A Genealogy of the Liberal Subject

306 Pages·2018·2 MB·English

by  Miguel de Beistegui

The Government
of Desire

The Government
of Desire
A Genealogy of the Liberal Subject
Miguel de Beistegui
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2018 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical
articles and reviews. For more information, contact the
University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2018
Printed in the United States of America
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 54737- 4 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 54740- 4 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi .org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226547404 .001 .0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Beistegui, Miguel de, 1966– author.
Title: The government of desire : a genealogy of the liberal
subject / Miguel de Beistegui.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago
Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017040680 | ISBN 9780226547374 (cloth : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9780226547404 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Political science— Philosophy. | Sex— Political
aspects. | Recognition (Philosophy)
Classification: LCC JA74.5.B458 2018 | DDC 320.01— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2017040680
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
At nova res novum vocabulum flagitat.
Lorenzo Valla, Antidotum in Facium 1.14

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Why Desire? 1
Part One Homo Oeconomicus
1 The Birth of Homo Oeconomicus 31
2 Man’s “Vain and Insatiable Desires,” or the
“Oeconomy of Greatness” 45
3 Neoliberal Governmentality 63
Part Two Homo Sexualis
4 “Abnormal Desires” and “Barbarous Instincts”:
The Birth of the Sexual Pervert 85
5 Instincts or Drives? The Birth of Psychoanalysis 111
Part Three Homo Symbolicus
6 Recognition, That “Most Ardent Desire” 143
7 Struggles for Recognition 171
8 The Consolations of Recognition 187
Conclusion: Desire, Again . . . 209
Notes 229
Bibliography 267
Index 289

Acknowledgments
This book owes a great debt of gratitude to the friends and colleagues ix
who have commented on it, criticized it, and helped me revise (and hope-
fully refine) some of its claims and arguments: Éric Alliez, Chiara Bottici,
Arnold Davidson, Marjorie Gracieuse, Daniele Lorenzini, Peter Hallward,
Stephen Houlgate, David James, Johanna Oksala, Peter Osborne, Judith
Revel, and Claudia Stein. An equal debt is owed to the many postgradu-
ate students at the University of Warwick and the New School for Social
Research who were patient enough to listen to early versions of this book,
and to respond to some of its theses. I am also grateful to the anony-
mous reviewers of the manuscript for their insightful comments and help-
ful suggestions. Last but not least, I want to thank my editor, Elizabeth
Branch Dyson, whose sharp eye and enthusiastic support were invaluable.