Michele Cammelli
Education
Ph.D, Philosophical Disciplines, University of Pisa, 2004
M.A., Political Sciences, University of Bologna, 1998
About Michele
Michele Cammelli is originally from Italy where he studied History of Political Thought and Contemporary Philosophy, especially in the area of history of philosophy and epistemology of biology and medicine. After obtaining his Master’s from the University of Bologna with a work on « The Evolutionary Paradigm and the Contemporary Political Thought », he achieved his first Ph.D. in « Philosophical Disciplines » at the University of Pisa with a doctoral thesis entitled « The Question of Genealogy: a Philosophical Itinerary in Michel Foucault’s Thought », about Foucault’s critique of Bio-politics and its relationship with French Epistemological Tradition.
During the work for his thesis he moved in France, Paris, where he has lived and worked for 14 years extending his researches on Bio-politics and the French Epistemological tradition namely on Georges Canguilhem’s thought. He collaborated with different research centers (« Centre Canguilhem » at the University of Paris Diderot with a « Marie Curie » fellowship, CNRS laboratory « Rheseis » (University of Paris Diderot) and CERSES (University of Paris-Descartes), Saint-Anne Hospital). During the last four years of his Parisian experience he also taught philosophy in French high school. In 2017 he decided to move to North Carolina to pursue his second Ph.D at UNC Chapel Hill in Romance Studies, Italian department.
His research explores, in various ways, the interplay between philosophy and biological thought. In such a perspective, he analyzed the impact of the “Darwinian paradigm” on contemporary political thought and social structures, he studied the connection between critique of bio-politics and epistemology of biology and medicine, he investigated the unexpected connection between Idealist tradition (Descartes) and philosophy of the living being (Canguilhem) by the means of the philosophical notions of “subject” and “error”. Today he works in the field of Italian studies on Machiavelli’s political thought in order to explore Machiavelli’s characteristic vitalism –his idea of “animality” as a political metaphor and his idea of political order as a “living body” – considered as a theoretical option for a new understanding of the question of bio-politics.
Career HistoryLycée Jeanne d’Arc, Etampes, France Professor of Philosophy in High School 2012-2016
St Anne Hospital, Paris, France Teaching seminars on “Medicine and Biopolitics” in collaboration with the DU Maters of Ethics for medical staff directed by Philippe Svandra. 2010-2016.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France Professional researcher at the Department of History and Philosophy of Sciences working in the research group of “Epistemology of medicine” directed by Alain Leplège. 2007.
Awards and FellowshipUniversity Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France “Marie Curie” Fellowship for the research project “Epistemology of Biopolitics : rediscovering Canguilhem” (PIEF-GA-2008 221205) earned in the “Centre Canguilhem” under the supervision of prof. Dominique Lecourt. 2008-2010.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France Post-doc Fellowship for the research project “Epistemology and Biopolitics : rediscovering Canguilhem” earned at the CNRS laboratory CERSES (Centre de Recherche Sens, Éthique et Société-Université) linked to the Human and Social Sciences Department. 2007-2008
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Post-doctoral Research Scholarship from the University of Bologna, Faculty of Political Sciences, relative to the disciplinary area “Politological and Social Sciences” for the research project “Critics of Biopolitics”. 2004-2006.
University La Sorbonne, Paris, France Hosted by the University La Sorbonne of Paris as part of the “Marco Polo” Mobility Program of the University of Bologna to work on Georges Canguilhem’s unedited writings located at the Ecole Normale Superieure library in the “Canguilhem’s archives”. 2005.
Publications
Peer-reviewed Articles- Eguaglianza e diseguaglianza davanti alla rivoluzione biologica dell’eredità, in “Filosofia politica”, n.3, December, 2008, pp. 417-431.
- Darwin in famiglia, in “Quaderni Materialisti”, n. 6, 2008, pp. 175-203.
- Person-centredness : conceptual and historical perspectives (écrit avec A. Leplège, F. Gzil, C. Lefève, B. Pachoud, I. Ville), in “Disability and Rehabilitation”, New Zeland, 2007, vol. 29, n° 20 & 21, pp. 1555-1565.
- Why is rehabilitation not yet fully person-centred and should it be more person-centred? (écrit avec A. Leplège, F. Gzil, C. Lefève, B. Pachoud, J.F. Ravaud), in “Disability and Rehabilitation”, New Zeland, 2007, vol. 29, n° 20 & 21, pp. 1616-1624.
- L’errore innato: note sull’archeologia di Georges Canguilhem, in “Discipline Filosofiche”, 2, 2006, pp. 237-256.
- Per una critica della biopolitica, in A. Argenio (dir.), Biopolitiche, Sellino, Avellino, 2006, pp. 27-98.
- Da Comte a Foucault attraverso Canguilhem: l’avventura ermeneutica della biopolitica, in “Filosofia Politica” n. 1, April, 2006, pp. 13-28.
- La “razza”: fra scienza e allevamento, in “Filosofia Politica”, n. 3, Dicembre 2003, pp. 419-435
- Il darwinismo e la teoria politica: un problema aperto, in “Filosofia politica”, n. 3, Dicembre 2000 pp. 489-518.
Chapters in books- Introduction to Le fascisme et les paysans (1935), in G. Canguilhem, Oeuvres Complètes, vol. I, Paris, Vrin, 2011, p. 515-533.
- Qu’est-ce que l’épistémologie? (written with C. Lefève), in Médecine et sciences humaines. Manuel pour les études médicales, edited by C. Lefève, J. M. Mouillie and L. Visier (Paris, Belles-Lettres, coll. Médecine/Sciences humaines), 2007, pp. 52-53.
- Logiche della resistenza in G. Canguilhem, Il fascismo e i contadini, Bologne, Il Mulino, 2006 (pp. 1-72). I have edited in Italy (translation, edition, introduction) this unknown Canguilhem’s political essay on Fascism (the text has been published anonymous in 1935). After that I participated to the first volume of Complete Works in France.
- Il martelletto di Canguilhem e i sintomi della biopolitica, postface in G. Canguilhem, Dallo sviluppo all’evoluzione, Milano, Mimesis, 2006, pp. 117-139.
Conferences
SeminarsUniversity Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2009 aut – 2010 win)
Half-year seminar in six sessions on the « Canguilhem’s unedited writings », earned at the “Centre Georges Canguilhem”.The seminar focuses on Canguilhem’s archive of unedited writings founded in 2004 in CAPHES in order to throw a new light on philosophical ground of his epistemological approach.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2009, spr)
Half-year seminar in six sessions on « The family’s knowledge : the heredity between science and government », earned in at the “Centre Georges Canguilhem” in collaboration with Olivier Doron. The seminar proposes a critical approach to the history of heredity during the Modern age questioning how “family’s sphere” became at the same time the object of the modern biology and the target of new governmental techniques.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2009, spr)
Half-year seminar in six sessions on the « Canguilhem and his workshop » at the “Centre Georges Canguilhem”. The seminar focuses on Canguilhem’s archive of unedited writings founded in 2004 in CAPHES in order to throw a new light on philosophical ground of his epistemological approach.
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy (2008, May)
Seminar in three sessions on “Politics of genealogy” earned at the Department of “Historical Disciplines” in the Prof. Carlo Galli’s course on “History of Political Doctrines” dedicated to the “Political Theology”. In order to throw light on relationship between the problem of the “political theology” and the “genealogical paradigm”, the seminar proposed an analytical lecture of the Foucault’s 1976 course “Il faut defendre la société” particularly focused on his critique of genealogy.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2008, spr)
Seminar in three sessions on the « Philosophy and Psychoanalysis in Canguilhem », earned at the “Centre d’Etudes du Vivant”.The seminar explored an unknown aspect of Canguilhem’s reflection : the theoretical remarks on Psychoanalysis developed in the last section of his unedited writing Esquisse d’une théorie des valeurs comme fondement pour une théorie des normes (1943). Si l’on peut voir dans la psychanalyse une théorie des valeurs (“If one can see in Psychoanalysis a theory of values”).
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2007, Aut.)
Seminar in four sessions on “Canguilhem during the 20’s et 30’s”, earned at the “Centre Georges Canguilhem”. The seminar focused on an unknown period of Canguilhem’s thought : edited and unedited works composed before his famous essays on The Normal and the Pathological (1943).
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy (2007, May)
Seminar in three sessions on “The political and epistemological question of the social body since Durkheim to Canguilhem” earned at the Department of “Historical Disciplines” in the Prof. Carlo Galli’s course on “History of Political Doctrines” dedicated to the “The Crisis of Liberalism during the 20’s et 30’s”. In order to explore a specific aspect of the crisis of liberalism during the ‘20’s and ‘30’, the seminar focused on the emergence of the concept of “social body” in French positivist social theory and his critique.
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy (2006, May)
Seminar in three sessions on “The critique of Biopolitics in contemporary French Philosophy” earned at the Department of “Historical Disciplines” in the Prof. Carlo Galli’s course on “History of Political Doctrines” dedicated to the “The Totalitarianism”. In order to throw light on a specific critique of Totalitarianism shaped in the French context, the seminar focused on the critique of Biopolitics built within the French tradition of Positivism.
Conferences and LecturesUNC-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA (2018, April 5-7)
CCRS (Carolina Conference for Romance Studies) “Visions and Revisions: Romance Utopias and Dystopias”.
Paper: “Odradek” and “Knall”: Dystopian beings in Kafka and Levi
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France (2015, Jun 11)
Conference : “Canguilhem : la normativité en actes”
Paper: “Presentation du livre en cours Le sujet et l’erreur”.
Université Paris 1 “La Sorbonne Nouvelle”, Paris, France (2015, April 17)
In the course held by Lyess Bouderbala on “The Civil War in Modern Political Thought”: “Subject and the war in Michel Foucault”.
Lycée Henry IV, Paris, France (2014 May 2-3)
Conference : “L’évolution, défi pour les philosophes?”
Paper : “Y a-t-il des erreurs de la vie ? Le problème de l’évolution dans la philosophie de Canguilhem”.
University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany (2012, July 13-14)
International Congress of Philosophy: “Biopolitics and ways of Subjectivation”.
Paper: “Biopolitical transferences”.
University “La Sorbonne”, Paris, France (2011, Dec 3)
International conference on the edition of the first volume of Canguilhem’s Complete Works : “Un nouveau Canguilhem?” Paper : “L’étude de 35 sur le Fascisme et les paysans”.
Hilda’s College, Oxford (2010, April 9-11)
International conference of the British Society of Phenomenology “Phenomenology and French Society”
Paper: “The Subject and the Error in Canguilhems’ thought”.
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France (2010, Jan 22-23)
International Conference : “Journées Cavaillès-Canguilhem”
Paper : “Le sujet et l’erreur chez Canguilhem”.
University “La Sorbonne”, Paris, France (2009, Dec.)
Conference : “La regulation” Paper : “Les inédits de Canguilhem”.
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France (2008, Nov)
International conference : “Discours philosophiques et formes de la politique après 1968” organized in collaboration with Andrea Cavazzini in the framework of the AFIC (Association Franco-Italienne pour la recherche sur la Philosophie Française Contemporaine).
Paper : “68 et la génération”.
Bruno Kessler foundation, Trento, Italy (2008, May)
International conference organized by the Center of Religious Sciences : “Vita e valore”. Paper : “L’archeologia come pensiero del vivente : tra Kant e Canguilhem”.
University Denis-Diderot Paris 7, Paris, France (2008, Jan.)
Conference organized by the REHSEIS CNRS laboratory : “La régulation entre sciences de la vie et sciences du gouvernement (XIXème XXème siècles)” Paper : “Régulation et gouvernement du temps”.
« Centro Studi Campostrini » Foundation, Verona, Italy (2007, May)
Lecture : « Il concetto di dispositivo : vita e potere nel pensiero di Foucault »
IUFM, Paris, France (2007, Jan.)
In the framework of the formation: l’« Étude d’un auteur : Michel Foucault ». Lecture : « La biopolitique de Foucault : entre critique du nazisme et critique du libéralisme »
Invitation to the Doctoral School “Savoirs scientifiques : épistémologie et histoire de la philosophie” directed by prof. Dominique Lecourt. Lecture : “De Comte à Foucault par Canguilhem : l’aventure herméneutique de la biopolitique”
Domus Galilaeana, Pise, Italy (2006, Mar.)
Conference “Darwin : i concetti di evoluzione e sviluppo tra biologia e scienze sociali” Paper : “Canguilhem e lo statuto politico della scienza”.
University Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy (2005, Nov.)
Lecture on : “Georges Canguilhem. Dallo sviluppo all’evoluzione” earned at the Department of History in the prof. Maria Turchetto course “Epistemologia delle scienze sociali”.
University Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy (2004, Oct.)
Lecture on : “L’archeologia di Foucault come critica politica della conoscenza” earned at the Department of History in the prof. Maria Turchetto course “Epistemologia delle scienze sociali”.
University of Modena, Modena, Italy (2002, March)
Lecture on: “The problem of norms in Foucault’s thought” earned in the seminar on the “Philosophy of Law” directed by Francesco Zanetti at Department of Law.