Körper und politische (An‑)Ordnungen. Zur Bedeutung von Körpern in der modernen westlichen Politischen Theorie

At first glance, it can be stated that bodies do not play an important role in modern Western political theory. They are mostly privatized and set as natural or prepolitical. This article argues, however, that bodies are not absent in modern political theory but that they play a crucial political role. They legitimize political orders in a subtle way. Through an examination of central arguments in the work of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, and Jürgen Habermas, three ways are identified in which bodies shape modern Western political theory. First, bodies are used to legitimize the political order; second, they serve to determine political subjectivity; and third, body politics define politics. The text aims to highlight how a body-theoretical perspective that does not define the body as prepolitical but rather as a political construct is able to expand the scope of political theory.