Engaging Foucault Volume 1 edited by Adriana Zaharijević Igor Cvejić Mark Losoncz Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory University of Belgrade Engaging Foucault Volume 1 Edited by Adriana Zaharijevic, Igor Cvejić and Mark Losoncz University of Belgrade | Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory Engaging Foucault volume 1 Edition Conferentia Title Engaging Foucault (Vol. 1) Edited by Adriana Zaharijevic, Igor Cvejić and Mark Losoncz Reviewers Rastko Jovanov, Zeljko Radiković Publisher Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade ISBN 978-86-82417-89-7 This Volume contains a collection of papers presented at the Engaging Foucault International conference which was held in Belgrade 05-07 December. The organization of the conference was supported by Heinrich Boell Foundation and Fund for an Open Society. Contents Introduction |vii Foucault’s Understanding of Critique and Modernity Sanna Tirkkonen SUBJECT AND “ANOTHER KIND” OF CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY |12 Goran Gaber THE TWO ENLIGHTENMENTS OF MICHEL FOUCAULT |24 Lazar Atanasković FOUCAULT: ON THE TRAJECTORY OF THE QUESTION: WAS IST DER MENSCH? |33 Jiyoung Ryu “HOW THOUGHT CAN RESIDE ELSEWHERE THAN HERE”: SPATIALITY OF THOUGHT IN THE ORDER OF THINGS |47 Balázs Berkovits FOUCAULT, SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND CRITIQUE |58 Foucault’s Concept Of Power Jernej Kaluža THE ANARCHY OF THE CONCEPT OF POWER |71 Duško Petrović POWER AS THE POWER OF/OVER LIFE |82 Marco Checchi ENGAGING WITH FOUCAULT'S MICROPHYSICS OF POWER THROUGH THE PRIMACY OF RESISTANCE |96 Katarina Peović Vuković RELIGIOUSLY DEVOTED TO POWER: FOUCAULT AND TECHNOLOGY |112 Kushtrim Ahmeti MICHEL FOUCAULT-IN-BETWEEN ARCHEOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE AND GENEALOGY OF POWER |121 Political Challenges Derived From Foucauldian Methods Izidor Barši and Aleš Mendiževec FOUCAULT’S INVESTMENT: A NEW POLITICAL PRACTICE |128 Alpar Losoncz and Vladimir Gvozden FOUCAULDIAN METHODS OF IAN HACKING |141 Florian Geisler and Alex Struwe THE DIALECTICAL CHALLENGE OF BIOPOLITICS: ON THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL BREACH BETWEEN FOUCAULT AND MARXISM |155 Dario Altobelli UTOPIA AND THE ARCHIVE. SOME REFLECTIONS ON ARCHAEOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE UTOPIAN THOUGHT |168 Conor Heaney THE ACADEMIC, ETHICS AND POWER |185 Requestioning The Ethical Subjectivity Kerem Eksen FOUCAULT’S “SPIRITUALITY” AND THE CRITIQUE OF MODERN MORALITY |202 Alenka Ambrož FOUCAULT’S ETHICS: ENGAGING ANTIQUITY |208 Fabian Voegeli TECHNIQUES OF THE SELF IN VIEW OF POTENTIALITY |215 Introducing Experience Into Philosophical Practices Amadeusz Just IS THERE ANY OTHER SIDE OF DISCOURSE? CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE IN FOUCAULT’S EARLY WRITINGS |230 Vincent Garton and Eugene Yamauchi EVENT AND DISCURSIVITY: ON FOUCAULT’S CONCEPTION OF SINGULARITY |242 Janos Robert Kun THE CRUMBLED BODY OF UNREASON |257 Sigrid Hackenberg PARAFOUCAULT PARAFICTIONS |263 Introduction This volume comes as an published outcome of the Engaging Foucault international con- ference which was organized by the Group for Social Engagement Studies (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory) in December 2014. The main aim of the conference was to open space for a general discussion of the actuality of Foucault’s work. During the confer- ence we had many opportunities to see just how much legacy of the French philosopher still remains rich and vibrant. But perhaps more importantly, the presentations that we heard – and now have an opportunity to read–also proved that contemporary interpreta- tion of Foucault try to (re)emphasize practical applicability and political implications of his philosophical insights. These new tendencies in interpretation prove to be all the more im- portant if we have in mind the conventional rendition of Foucauldian thought as being “ni- hilistic” and devoided of any social hope. In that sense, the authors of this volume tried to offer many ways in which we could (re)think “Foucauldian engagement.” Following his somewhat overlooked cues, they tried to combine theory “that has political meaning, utility and effectiveness” with the “involve- ment with the struggles taking place with the area in question”.1 Throughout the volume, in different connotations, we repeatedly hear the question of what we as theoreticians do, or should do. Do we play the role of prophetic intellectuals who think instead of others, prescribe objectives and means, and tell people what they should believe and ought to do? Or can we join in Foucault’s dream of an intellectual “who incessantly displaces her- self, doesn’t know exactly where she is heading nor what she’ll think tomorrow because she is too attentive to the present”?2 This question is related to how we do things as well. Do we collaborate with practitioners, in order to modify the institutions and practices we theorize about, which also allows for the possibility of the thought itself being reshaped in this process?3 In other words, the contributions in this volume suggest that (Foucauldian) social engage- ment should be about production of communities, however transient and mobile they are, and not about the production of foes. If we follow Foucault this is imperative not because of inherent belief in the goodness of the world or human nature. “What is good is some- thing that comes through innovation. The good does not exist, like that, in an a-temporal sky, with people who would be like the Astrologers of the Good, whose job is to determine what is the favorable nature of the stars. The good is defined by us, it is practiced, it is in- vented. And this is a collective work.”4 First chapter of the volume entitled Foucault’s Understanding of Critique and Modernity will try to provide insight both into Foucault’s notion of critique and his relation towards modern philosophy. In the first contribution of the chapter, Sanna Tirkkonen points out that the political aspects of Foucault’s work is best seen in his theoretical objective to study precisely those practices that do not only constitute the objects of knowledge, but also create new forms of subjectivation. According to her interpretation, in Foucault’s work critique emerges as a particular kind of reflective activity in which we question both 1. Foucault, Questions on Geography, in Power/Knowledge, 64. 2. Foucault, Questions on Geography, in Power/Knowledge, 64. 3.What is called punishing, 384 4. In a sense I am a moralist, http://www.critical-theory.com/read-me-foucault-interview-in-a-sense-i-am-a- moralist/ vii ourselves and the world around us. Tirkkonen therefore concludes that Foucauldian cri- tique can best be summarized as an art of voluntary, reflected insubordination. Although somewhat differently framed, Goran Graber’s paper comes to a similar conclu- sion. Starting with problematical status that Enlightenment has in Foucault’s work – pri- marily in regards to Kant’s views on this subject – Graber emphasizes the importance of distinction theoretical/practical in modern philosophy which would go beyond the never- fulfilled promise of the objectivity of scientific discourse and the everlasting dissatisfac- tion with the arbitrariness of our practical activity. In the third paper of this chapter, Lazar Atancković reflects on the relation between early Foucault’s works and Kant’s anthropology. He points out that Foucault’s analysis of this aspect of Kant’s thought shows both “empirico-transcendental-confusion” (regarding the anthropological question Was ist der Mensch?) and fundamentally different structure that could resolve this confusion. In his contribution, Jiyung Riu also focuses on Foucault’s reflection on Kant’s anthropol- ogy. The author claims that what Foucault sees as important in Kant’s text is the idea of that finitude is more constitutive for our knowledge than its limitations. This is why Riu finds that for Foucault the central theme of knowledge is the notion of finitude which in turn brings us to the question of „spacialty of thought“. In the last contribution of the chapter, Balascz Berkovitz tries to show some of the advan- tages that social critique would have if it was based on Foucault’s genealogical method. In order to show how we could criticize the construction of the “abnormal individual”, Berkovitz introduces a distinction between two features in Foucault’s nominalist method. Second chapter, Foucault’s concept of Power consists of five papers which focus on Fou- cault’s complex understanding of power. The chapter starts with the contribution of Jernej Kaluža. His main theoretical question is how we can explain hierarchical nature of power if we have in mind that Foucault regards it as “net-like” structure. Using Deleuze’s reading of Foucault’s notion of care for oneself, Kaluza tries to show that not all power relations are the same. Duško Peterović in his paper argues that Foucault’s understanding of power as a relation is derived from his notion of biopower, not vice-versa. Petrović also argues that biopower is just one historical form of power. Marco Checci in his contribution focuses his attention on affirmative aspects of resistance within Foucault’s power/resistance relation. According to Checci, resistance needs to be assumed as confronting power relations not only through concrete practices, but also through its multiple possibilities. On the other hand, Katarina Pejović- Vuković contemplates the ways in which main Fou- cault’s conceptions should be (re)interpreted in light of change from centralized to decan- talized technology which occurred after Foucault’s death. In his paper, Kuštrim Ahmeti analyzes the productive role of Foucauldian methods of archeology and genealogy, and also tries to show how poltization of all aspects of life unmask and challenge hidden power relations. viii Main aim of the third chapter, titled Political Challenges Derived From Foucauldian Meth- ods is to offer (re)consideration of Foucauldian methods of direct political practice and strategy for action. The chapter opens with Izidor Barsi’s and Aleš Mendiževec’s paper in which he argues that Foucault understanding of power cannot be properly understood if its political investment is left unexplained. In their contribution, Alpar Losoncz and Vladimir Gvozden focus on Foucalut’s influence on Ianc Hacking.