Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punish
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Foucault and Deleuze, April 2014 Nicolae Morar, Penn State University, Thomas Nail, University of Denver, and Daniel W
Nicolae Morar, Thomas Nail, and Daniel W. Smith 2014 ISSN: 1832‐5203 Foucault Studies, No. 17, pp. 4‐10, April 2014 INTRODUCTION Foucault Studies Special Issue: Foucault and Deleuze, April 2014 Nicolae Morar, Penn State University, Thomas Nail, University of Denver, and Daniel W. Smith, Purdue University Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault are widely accepted to be central figures of post‐war French philosophy. Philosophers, cultural theorists, and others have devoted considerable effort to the critical examination of the work of each of these thinkers, but despite the strong biographical and philosophical connection between Foucault and Deleuze, very little has been done to explore the relationship between them. This special issue of Foucault Studies is the first collection of essays to address this critical deficit with a rigorous comparative discussion of the work of these two philosophers. Deleuze’s Course Lectures on Foucault In particular, this special issue is motivated by the recent (2011) online publication of Gilles Deleuze’s course lectures on Michel Foucault (1985‐86) at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library) in Paris. The BNF collected the available recordings of Deleuze’s seminar lectures at the University of Paris 8 and converted them into digital files. Needless to say, the task was a painstaking one, but the mp3 files have now been made accessible online through the Gallica search engine at the library.1 When Foucault died in 1984, Deleuze was so affected by the death of his friend, that he began lecturing and writing a book about Foucault’s philosophical corpus immediately. When asked why he wanted to write such a book, Deleuze was quite clear, “it marks an inner need of mine, my admiration for him, how I was moved by his death, and his unfinished work.”2 Deleuze’s desire for some kind of reconciliation with Foucault seems to have been a mutual one. -
Becoming-Other: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Political Nature of Thought Vernon W
Philosophy Faculty Publications Philosophy 4-2014 Becoming-Other: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Political Nature of Thought Vernon W. Cisney Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/philfac Part of the Philosophy of Mind Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Cisney, Vernon W. "Becoming-Other: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Nature of Thought." Foucault Studies 17 Special Issue: Foucault and Deleuze (April 2014). This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/philfac/37 This open access article is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Becoming-Other: Foucault, Deleuze, and the Political Nature of Thought Abstract In this paper I employ the notion of the ‘thought of the outside’ as developed by Michel Foucault, in order to defend the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze against the criticisms of ‘elitism,’ ‘aristocratism,’ and ‘political indifference’—famously leveled by Alain Badiou and Peter Hallward. First, I argue that their charges of a theophanic conception of Being, which ground the broader political claims, derive from a misunderstanding of Deleuze’s notion of univocity, as well as a failure to recognize the significance of the concept of multiplicity in Deleuze’s thinking. From here, I go on to discuss Deleuze’s articulation of the ‘dogmatic image of thought,’ which, insofar as it takes ‘recognition’ as its model, can only ever think what is already solidified and sedimented as true, in light of existing structures and institutions of power. -
Foucault's Darwinian Genealogy
genealogy Article Foucault’s Darwinian Genealogy Marco Solinas Political Philosophy, University of Florence and Deutsches Institut Florenz, Via dei Pecori 1, 50123 Florence, Italy; [email protected] Academic Editor: Philip Kretsedemas Received: 10 March 2017; Accepted: 16 May 2017; Published: 23 May 2017 Abstract: This paper outlines Darwin’s theory of descent with modification in order to show that it is genealogical in a narrow sense, and that from this point of view, it can be understood as one of the basic models and sources—also indirectly via Nietzsche—of Foucault’s conception of genealogy. Therefore, this essay aims to overcome the impression of a strong opposition to Darwin that arises from Foucault’s critique of the “evolutionistic” research of “origin”—understood as Ursprung and not as Entstehung. By highlighting Darwin’s interpretation of the principles of extinction, divergence of character, and of the many complex contingencies and slight modifications in the becoming of species, this essay shows how his genealogical framework demonstrates an affinity, even if only partially, with Foucault’s genealogy. Keywords: Darwin; Foucault; genealogy; natural genealogies; teleology; evolution; extinction; origin; Entstehung; rudimentary organs “Our classifications will come to be, as far as they can be so made, genealogies; and will then truly give what may be called the plan of creation. The rules for classifying will no doubt become simpler when we have a definite object in view. We possess no pedigrees or armorial bearings; and we have to discover and trace the many diverging lines of descent in our natural genealogies, by characters of any kind which have long been inherited. -
Historical Critique Or Transcendental Critique in Foucault: Two Kantian Lineages Colin Koopman, University of Oregon
Colin Koopman 2010 ISSN: 1832-5203 Foucault Studies, No. 8, pp. 100-121, February 2010 ARTICLE Historical Critique or Transcendental Critique in Foucault: Two Kantian Lineages Colin Koopman, University of Oregon ABSTRACT: A growing body of interpretive literature concerning the work of Michel Foucault asserts that Foucault’s critical project is best interpreted in light of various strands of philosophical phenomenology. In this article I dispute this interpretation on both textual and philosophical grounds. It is shown that a core theme of ‘the phenomenological Foucault’ having to do with transcendental inquiry cannot be sustained by a careful reading of Foucault’s texts nor by a careful interpretation of Foucault’s philosophical commitments. It is then shown that this debate in Foucault scholarship has wider ramifications for understanding ‘the critical Foucault’ and the relationship of Foucault’s projects to Kantian critical philosophy. It is argued that Foucault’s work is Kantian at its core insofar as it institutes a critical inquiry into conditions of possibility. But whereas critique for Kant was transcendental in orientation, in Foucault critique becomes historical, and is much the better for it. Keywords: Michel Foucault, Critique, Immanuel Kant, Phenomenology, Transcen- dental Critique. 100 Koopman: Historical Critique or Transcendental Crititique in Foucault ‚You seem to me Kantian or Husserlian. In all of my work I strive instead to avoid any reference to this transcendental as a condition of the possibility for any knowledge. When I say that I strive to avoid it, I don’t mean that I am sure of succeeding< I try to historicize to the utmost to leave as little space as possible to the transcendental. -
A Foucauldian Analysis of Black Swan
Introduction In the 2010 movie Black Swan , Nina Sayers is filmed repeatedly practicing a specific ballet turn after her teacher mentioned her need for improvement earlier that day. Played by Natalie Portman, Nina is shown spinning in her room at home, sweating with desperation and determination trying to execute the turn perfectly. Despite the hours of gruesome rehearsal, Nina must nail every single aspect of this particular turn to fully embody the role she is cast in. After several attempts at the move, she falls, exhausted, clutching her newly twisted ankle in agony. Perfection, as shown in this case, runs hand in hand with pain. Crying to herself, Nina holds her freshly hurt ankle and contemplates how far she will go to mold her flesh into the perfectly obedient body. This is just one example in the movie Black Swan in which the main character Nina, chases perfection. Based on the demanding world of ballet, Darren Aronofsky creates a new-age portrayal of the life of a young ballet dancer, faced with the harsh obstacles of stardom. Labeled as a “psychological thriller” and horror film, Black Swan tries to capture Nina’s journey in becoming the lead of the ever-popular “Swan Lake.” However, being that the movie is set in modern times, the show is not about your usual ballet. Expecting the predictable “Black Swan” plot, the ballet attendees are thrown off by the twists and turns created by this mental version of the show they thought they knew. Similarly, the attendees for the movie Black Swan were surprised at the risks Aronofsky took to create this haunting masterpiece. -
Ethical Invention in Sartre and Foucault: Courage, Freedom, Transformation
© Dr. Kimberly S. Engels ISSN: 1832-5203 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v27i27.5893 Foucault Studies, No. 27, 96-116, December 2019 ARTICLE Ethical Invention in Sartre and Foucault: Courage, Freedom, Transformation DR. KIMBERLY S. ENGELS Molloy College, USA ABSTRACT. This article explores the concept of ethical invention in both Jean-Paul Sartre’s and Michel Foucault’s later lectures and interviews, showing that a courageous disposition to invent or transform plays a key role in both thinkers’ visions of ethics. Three of Sartre’s post-Critique of Dialectical Reason lectures on ethics are examined: Morality and History, The Rome Lecture, and A Plea for Intellectuals. It is shown that ethical invention for Sartre requires the use of our freedom to transcend our current circumstances, a willingness to break away from harmful ideologies, and directing our free praxis towards the goal of universal humanism. Examining several of Foucault’s interviews alongside his lecture series The Government of Self and Others and The Courage of Truth, it is shown that ethical invention for Foucault requires a rejection of necessities or inevitabilities in our current landscape, a willingness to reshape our current beliefs, and a philosophical way of life that results in an alteration of the relationship to self and others. For both thinkers, ethical inven- tion should be preceded by a critical reflection on ourselves in our historical moment. Both argue that ethical invention requires a rejection of the inherent value of our world and realization that the conditions of possibility for being subjects are malleable. Last, it is shown that both philoso- phers specifically call philosophers or intellectuals to invent. -
Two Uses of Genealogy: Michel Foucault and Bernard Williams 90 1
the practices which we might use genealogy to inquire into. Of course, 1 these two thinkers each used genealogy in very different senses insofar as I Chapter 5 Nietzsche's genealogy was an attempt to undermine and subvert certain! modern moral practices whereas Williams' was an attempt to vindicate i Two uses of genealogy: Michel Foucault and and strengthen certain modern moral notions concerning the value ofl Bernard Williams practices of truthfulness. Although the minimal conclusion that Foucault's genealogy differs I Colin Koopman from Nietzsche's and Williams' genealogy may not be all that surprising" what is nonetheless revealing is an exploration of the specific terms oni which these varying conceptions of genealogy can be differentiated. Such! an exploration particularly helps us recognize the complex relationship I The notion CMn1lWn to all the work that I have done . .. is that of problematization. between genealogy and critique. It is my claim that Foucault's project dif-i -Michel Foucault, 1984, 'The Concern/or Truth' fers from more normatively ambitious uses of genealogy and that muchI i light is shed on the way in which Foucault used genealogy as a critical appa ratus by explicating this difference. Foucault used genealogy to develop a i Michel Foucault's final description of his genealogical and archaeological form of critique that did not rely on the traditional normative ambitions inquiries in terms of the concept of 'problematization' is, most commen which have motivated so much of modern philosophy. Foucault, perhaps -
Psychiatry and Anti-Psychiatry: History, Rhetoric and Reality
2 (4) 2018 DOI: 10.26319/4717 Daniel Burston, Psychology Department, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA [email protected] Psychiatry and Anti-psychiatry: History, Rhetoric and Reality Abstract: The term “anti-psychiatry” was coined in 1912 by Dr. Bernhard Beyer, but only popularized by Dr. David Cooper (and his critics) in the midst of a widespread cultural revolt against involuntary hospitalization and in-patient psychiatry during the 1960s and 1970s. However, with the demise of the old-fashioned mental hospital, and the rise of Big Pharma (with all its attendant evils), the term “anti-psychiatry” has outlived its usefulness. It survives merely as a term of abuse or a badge of honor, depending on the user and what rhetorical work this label is expected to perform. Those who use the term nowadays generally have a polemical axe to grind, and seldom understand the term’s origins or implications. It is time that serious scholars retire this term, or to restrict its use to R.D.Laing’s followers in the Philadelphia Associates and kindred groups that sprang up in the late 1960s and 1970s. Keywords: psychiatry, anti-psychiatry, psychoanalysis, DSM V, Big Pharma, normalization, psychopolitics On November 16, 2016, Dr. Bonnie Burstow, Associate Professor of Adult Education and Community Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto, launched the first (and thus far, only) scholarship in North America to support doctoral theses on the subject of “anti-psychiatry.” Predictably, this bold gesture garnered praise in some quarters, but provoked a barrage of criticism from both in and outside the university. -
Philosophical Genealogy: a User's Guide
Philosophical Genealogy: A User's Guide MPhil Stud Victor Braga Weber University College London 2019 1 I, Victor Braga Weber, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Victor Braga Weber, August 28, 2019 2 Abstract In what way might our past effect our current philosophical outlook? More particularly, is there any philosophical value in investigating the contexts from which our philosophical outlooks originate? Analytic philosophy has historically responded antagonistically to the suggestion that looking to our past for answers is valuable. Yet some philosophers argue that the search for the origins of our philosophical outlook can be a source of great (meta-)philosophical insight. One such strand are the so-called genealogists. The purpose of this thesis is to understand what the promise of philosophical genealogy is, and whether it can be fulfilled. A challenge for my project is that the term ‘genealogy’ has been used to describe very different kinds of things (Section I). As such, I propose to develop a taxonomy of conceptions of genealogy (Section II), identify what the distinctive features of its members are (Section III), and what kind of insight they can give us (Section IV). In the final section (Section V), I return to the question of whether there is any non-trivial claim we can make about what features are shared by the disparate conceptions I identify. I argue that there is, but not at the level of a common philosophical method. -
Foucault's Subjectivity and Confucian Cultivation Wei Guan Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 10-27-2017 Education as a Moral Responsibility: Foucault's Subjectivity and Confucian Cultivation Wei Guan Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Guan, Wei, "Education as a Moral Responsibility: Foucault's Subjectivity and Confucian Cultivation" (2017). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4121. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4121 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. EDUCATION AS A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY: FOUCAULT’S SUBJECTIVITY AND CONFUCIAN CULTIVATION A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Educational Theory, Policy & Practice by Wei Guan B.S., Northwestern Architecture Engineering Institution, Xi’an, China, 1996 M.A., The University of Iowa, 2005 December 2017 To Awen !ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The first person I want to thank is my advisor, Dr. Petra Munro Hendry. She supported me from the beginning, when I started my Ph.D. in the Curriculum Theory program at Louisiana State University. Recognized for her significant lifetime achievements in Washington DC at the AERA Conference in 2016, Dr. Hendry is revered as an impactful leader in curriculum studies. -
Can Human Rights Have Merit in Foucault's Disciplinary Society?
Can Human Rights Have Merit in Foucault’s Disciplinary Society? Alexandra Solheim Thesis presented for the degree of MASTER IN PHILOSOPHY Supervised by Professor Arne Johan Vetlesen and Professor Espen Schaaning Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas UNIVERSITY OF OSLO December 2018 Can Human Rights have Merit in Foucault’s Disciplinary Society? II © Alexandra Solheim 2018 Can Human Rights Have Merit in Foucault’s Disciplinary Society? Alexandra Solheim http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo III Summary This thesis’s inquiry sets out to study the apparent irreconcilability between Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power and the idea of human rights. By reconceptualising human rights, this thesis attempts to redeem the merit of human rights in the context of Foucault’s disciplinary society. This thesis shall, firstly, address four issues of human rights, which are: the large number of contestations concerning its content, the increasingly expanding scope, the technocratic characteristics of human rights practice, and lastly, the adverse effects of human right struggles. By looking at Foucault’s power as disciplinary, it can account for and explain the challenges identified. Foucault does not envision himself to provide a normative theory, but rather a descriptive theory. This might illuminate why and how rights become problematic in practice. If we adopt Foucault’s notion of power, it appears that it would discredit the idea of human rights altogether. In this view, human rights reinforce power structures instead of opposing them. Firstly, disciplinary power renders emancipatory human rights nonsensical, as power is not uniform and the opposite of freedom. -
3. Panoptic Ism We Have Judge Schreber
Discipline bonpetit Henri', but in the misfortunes of 'little Hans'. The Romance of the Rose is written today by Mary Barnes; in the place of Lance lot, 3. Panoptic ism we have Judge Schreber. It is often said that the model of a society that has individuals as its constituent elements is borrowed from the abstract juridical forms of contract and exchange. Mercantile society, according to this view, is represented as a contractual association of isolated juridical subjects. Perhaps. Indeed, the political theory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often seems to follow this schema. But it should not be forgotten that there existed at the same The following, according to an order published at the end of the period a technique for constituting individuals as correlative ele- seventeenth century, were the measures to be taken when the plague ments of power and knowledge. The individual is no doubt the appeared in a town.' fictitious atom of an 'ideological' representation of society; but he is First, a strict spatial partitioning: the closing of the town and its also a reality fabricated by this specific technology of power that I outlying districts, a prohibition to leave the town on pain of death, have called 'discipline'. We must cease once and for all to describe the killing of all stray animals; the division of the town into distinct the effects of power in negative terms: it 'excludes', it 'represses', quarters, each governed by an intendant. Each street is placed under it 'censors', it 'abstracts', it 'masks', it 'conceals'. In fact, power the authority of a syndic, who keeps it under surveillance; if he produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and leaves the street, he will be condemned to death.