Foucault and Genealogical Critique: PHIL 556 (Spring 2017)

Foucault and Genealogical Critique: PHIL 556 (Spring 2017) Instructor: Professor Fred Evans

Course Description and Requirements

In his intellectual career, Foucault passed through a number of stages (existential phenomenological, hermeneutical, archaeological, and genealogical). Each new stage was marked by a reinterpretation of his past work in terms of his latest approach. Foucault's genealogical stage is the most discussed in recent scholarship on his work and preserves important aspects of his preceding "archaeological" period. We will therefore begin with some selections from his archaeological period and then focus on his genealogical works as well as on the ethical, "governmentality," and parrhesia (“courageous speech”) writings that overlap with them. We will also view Foucault's genealogy and his ethical and political thought in relation to some major authors and themes in contemporary political and ethical philosophy, feminism, and gay, lesbian and “queer theory” thought. The feminist portion of this part of the course will include papers by Judith Butler and other leading U.S. thinkers on gender issues. The requirements for the course will consist of several short papers, a term paper, short presentations on the material, guide-question responses, and sterling attendance. This course counts for the contemporary philosophy requirement.

Required Texts:

Butler, Judith. Articles and/or a book: TBA. Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge, trans. A.M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Harper Colophon, 1972. 06-090544-1. ______. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage/Random House, 1979. 0-394-72767-3. ______. The History of Sexuality Vol. I: An Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage/Random House, 1978. 0-679-72469-9. ______. The History of Sexuality Vol. II: The Use of Pleasure, trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage/Random House, 1985. 0-394-75122-1. ______. The Government of Self and Others: Lectures at the College de France, 1982-1983, vols. 1 (The Government of Self and Others) and 2 (The Courage of Truth), ed. Frédéric Gros, trans. Graham Burchell. New York: Picador/Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 (ISBN: 978-0-312-57292-1 and 2012 (ISBN: 978-1-250-00910-4), respectively. Various PDFed articles from Michel Foucault, The Essential Works of Michel Foucault, 1954-1984, Vols. I, II, and III, ed. Paul Rabinow (New York, NY: The New Press), and from feminist and other sources: These will be provided by the instructor. Halperin, David M. Saint = Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. New York: Oxford University Press. 0-19-511127-3.

Recommended Texts:

Han, Béatrice. Foucault’s Critical Project: Between the Transcendental and the Historical, trans. Edward Pile. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002. 0-8047-3709-6. Oksala, Johanna. Foucault on Freedom. Cambridge University Press, 2005. 0-521-84779-7.