Beyond the Subject: Notes on the “Molecular” Gramsci between Psychology and “Philosophy of Life”

Abstract

Gramsci’s “language of life” can be traced in part to the sciences and psychology of the late 19th century. Taking this connection into account, our contribution will attempt to reconstruct the early pre-prison writings and engage in an interpretive comparison with some authors who, like Gramsci, have conceived of the subject through a series of metaphors that challenge the idea of the self as a closed and self-referential individuality. In particular, we will revisit the metaphor of a “molecular” transformation and, through it, Gramsci’s relationship with psychology, and “philosophies of life”. Our aim is to focus on the perspective adopted by Gramsci in the Prison Notebooks, where the vitalist terminology of the early writings is reactivated and included in a perspective that transcends the former vitalistic approach.