Immunisation And The Natural Sciences: Esposito On Disciplines, Deconstruction And Equilibrium

This chapter explores the role of natural scientific texts and their truth claims in Roberto Esposito’s work on biopolitics, and especially in Immunitas(2002) and Third Person(2007). The relationship of natural scientific texts to other disciplines, such as philosophy, political science and anthropology, is central to Esposito’s argument in Third Personabout the emergence of a post-Enlightenment understanding of political philosophy, law and the key category of ‘the person’. In Third Person, Esposito suggests that contemporary philosophy must engage with contemporary scientific disciplines, and exemplifies this in Immunitasby drawing on natural scientific claims about the immune system, especially as these relate to the mother-fetus relationship. Esposito’s use of natural scientific claims in Immunitashas provoked heated critiques of his project. Focusing on Penelope Deutscher’s and Cary Wolfe’s critiques, this chapter argues that Esposito does not draw on the sciences for foundational, naturalising truths, but rather for examples of what Esposito describes as the emergence of a norm within a living process. This understanding of norm is related to Esposito’s more general concept of equilibrium, which he conceives not as the return to a former state, but rather as the production of a balance of forces among entities.