Individuals that Matter: State Theory in the Age of the Individual

Abstract

The political reflection upon the legitimacy of state power finds in the individual not only an originating source but also a permanent limit. This tense relation between the state and the individual can be traced to the foundational approach delivered by Thomas Hobbes' political science. This approach not only identifies the individual as the matter of the state but also allows to suspect that this individualism is based on a previous selection of the human material apt to gain the status of an individual. This selection of the appropriate matter of the state implies the marginalization of female, african, and indo american population. The aim of this chapter is to give account of the way in which modern individualist-based state theory is built upon the distinction between the individuals that matter and those who don't.