Introduction to French Philosophy
Lecture course
John Mandalios
The contemporary philosophical and European intellectual landscape is indelibly marked by the powerful thought of three preeminent French thinkers. The course examines major works and ideas of three master figures: Michel Foucault, Gillez Deleuze and Alain Badiou. The focus of the course is placed on their very late thought and works to allow students to understand contemporaneous issues and ideas. The import and impact of their thinking extends beyond philosophy to wider audiences of the human sciences.
6 September Lecture 1 FOUCAULT – Will to Know: Nietzsche
Reading: F. Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil fragments 1-17 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246766
Foucault ‘Lecture on Nietzsche’ Lectures on the Will to Know http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246768
13 September Lecture 2 FOUCAULT – Parrhesia: Dangerous Task
Reading: Foucault Fearless Speech (Semiotexte), p.9-22; 71-74 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1232836
Foucault The Courage of Truth chap. 1, 5 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1207157
20 September Lecture 3 FOUCAULT – Parrhesia: Forms of Existence & Care of the Self
Reading: Foucualt The Courage of Truth chap. 2, 8, 9 & p.269-73 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1207157
Foucault Fearless Speech Ch 4 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1232836
27 September
1 Lecture 4 FOUCAULT – Spiritual Exercises of Truth
Reading: Foucault The Courage of Truth Ch 4, 5 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1207157
Foucault Fearless Speech Ch 4: p. 133-166 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1232836
4 October Lecture 5 DELEUZE – Creation and Concepts
Reading: Deleuze What is Philosophy Ch 1, 2 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246772
Daniel Smith Essays on Deleuze Ch 8 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1247398
11 October Lecture 6 DELEUZE – Differential Relation and Pure Difference
Reading: Deleuze Difference and Repetition Ch 5 Deleuze Difference and Repetition Ch 4 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1237365
18 October Lecture 7 DELEUZE – Virtuality, Singularity
Reading: Deleuze Difference and Repetition Ch 4 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1237365
Deleuze What is Philosophy p. 156-161 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246772
Daniel Smith Essays on Deleuze p. 252-254 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1247398
25 October Lecture 8 DELEUZE – The Fold, The Soul
Reading: Deleuze The Fold Ch 2,7 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246770
2 Deleuze Lecture ‘On Leibniz’ épuisé
1 November Lecture 9 BADIOU – Plato Recovered
Reading: Badiou Being And Event Ch 2 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246765
Badiou Manifesto For Philosophy Ch11 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1207069
8 November Lecture 10 BADIOU – Truth-procedure
Reading: Badiou Infinite Tought Ch2 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246767
Badiou Logics of Worlds Preface, Section 8 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246799
Badiou ‘Afterword’, Think Again: Alain Badiou and the Future of Philosophy. (ed. by Peter Hallward) Continuum, 2004, p.232-237 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246771
15 November Lecture 11 BADIOU – The Event
Reading: Badiou Logics of Worlds Book IV Section 2 Book V Section 2; Book II: Introduction http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246799
22 November Lecture 12 BADIOU – St Paul Today
Reading: Badiou St Paul: the foundation of universalism Ch 1, 10, 11 http://catalogue.sciences- po.fr/alswww4.dll/APS_ZONES?fn=ViewNotice&Style=Portal3&q=1246769
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