The body-politic metaphor made tyranny a self-injury of the organism

Evidence

According to Salisbury, the citizens formed a corporate community who wished to preserve the prince because the prince in his role protected and gave affection to his subjects. A “faithful and firm cohesion” existed only in conjunction with “an enduring union of wills and … a cementing together of souls.” Tyranny by the prince or magistrates would effectively add such weight to the head as to render the body incapable of support or result in a suicidal slashing of the throat. … Due to the interconnectedness and mutual dependence of its parts, “an injury to the head … is brought home to all the members, and … a wound unjustly inflicted on any member tends to the injury of the head.” — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 340

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Phenomenology of subjectivity becomes political resistance under tyranny — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 929; The body-as-metaphor legitimated social hierarchy as naturally given; Colonial reorganization made the organic body metaphor politically obsolete — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 488 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The body-as-metaphor legitimated social hierarchy as naturally given #expands (0.78)
• Colonial reorganization made the organic body metaphor politically obsolete #expands (0.75) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 488
• Phenomenology of subjectivity becomes political resistance under tyranny #complicates (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 929