On the Politics of Life: Michel Foucault and Georges Canguilhem on Life and Norms

How can a philosophical exploration of the concept of life that emerged with modern medicine and biology change our views on ethics and politics? This thesis analyses the works of Georges Canguilhem and Michel Foucault in order to understand how modern politics has become a politics of life, but also to reflect on the ways in which we could organise our lives differently and create other norms of life. Through a renewed notion of normativity, my thesis seeks both to provide a new interpretation of Foucault's work, and to reflect on life's creative potential.