The Oppressive Totality of the Past

Abstract

Controlling for insecurities depends on a capacity to make inferences on the basis of experiences about the past, yet the use of knowledge about the past for anticipating and predicting future threats is highly problematic. This article examines the problem of governing individuals on the basis of what is available about their past deeds and social networks in governmental and commercial archives. It highlights the tension between administrative and private narratives about individuals, the former being constructed on the basis of minute details collected and stored about individuals since birth, and the latter referring to the accounts individuals offer of themselves. By applying the notions of ipse and idem identity developed by Paul Ricoeur, the article examines the two-way flow between memory and identity and the consequent concern that administrative narratives are blind to the ethical renewal of individuals, to the capacity of Man to extricate himself from the shackles of his past. To prepare the ground, the article considers some inherent limitations of biopolitics, pointing out that although biopolitics was classically concerned to govern both individual bodies and the body politic, administrative and governmental limitations have led states to govern the “average citizen” rather than individuals in their “individuality.”