Abstract

This essay reconstructs the philosophical and literary topos of the ship of State - which includes the conceptual association "gubernatio"/"navigatio" - and the metaphorical tradition that suggests a close correspondence between the typical directional functions on board the ship and the power functions of the polis and the State. In the modern age a new element appears: the "scientia navalis", with which the ship takes on different political meanings. Finally, the "topos" of the ship of State is compared with the origins of cybernetics, that is, with the transition from a science of government to a science of communication and control.