Thomistic and Aristotelian incontinence and intemperance in the face of the political technology of the Foucaultian body: the non-absolute character of morality

Abstract

Here the issue of incontinence and intemperance is addressed from Thomistic and Aristotelian perspectives, with their motivations and validity questioned both in the Middle Ages and in the present day, while drawing a parallel with Foucault’s political technology of the body as apparatuses of socio-political control. Furthermore, the absolute character of morality is challenged in order to invite the reader to reflect on the current difficulty of accepting, considering, and constructing a society with some updated and more ethical moral parameters, in order to grant respect and value to the multiplicity of types and preferences that constitute human nature in every social dimension.