Foucault-L

[Foucault-L] postscript - Sarkozy and Onfray

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-15T12:42:09+05:30

Btw, Speaking of the "human nature" thread, there was an interesting interview between Michel Onfray and Nikolas Sarkozy, where Sarkozy emphasized that he thought there were genetic predispositions to paedophilia, depression and teenage suicide. He thought it was worth thinking about and that he didn't feel one could become a paedophile. Has anyone read this interview?

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-15T03:14:42+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Etienne Pelaprat — 2010-03-15T02:57:04+05:30

[Foucault-L] CFP: special issue on Gender Resistance for EJES

David McInerney — 2010-03-15T02:31:26+05:30

European Journal of English Studies, Vol. 16 GENDER RESISTANCE Guest Editors: Evgenia Sifaki & Angeliki Spiropoulou. Socio-historical developments that have characterised the turn of the present century, such as increasing globalisation, migration and transnationalism, new technologies, the growth of the beauty industry and the medicalisation of the body, as well as various initiatives in equality and human rights legislation, have ushered in new conditions of experiencing and thinking subjectivity. This issue seeks to interrogate the new experiences and conceptualisations of gender and sexualities that have been part of these transformations. Specifically, notwithstanding the assimilation of traditional feminist demands in official cultural discourses, what new forms of resistance to conventional gender discourses, categories and practices, and inversely, what novel manifestations of resilient gender asymmetries have emerged in this allegedly ‘post-feminist’ era? We invite contributions that address the mod...

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Mehmet Kentel — 2010-03-15T02:20:53+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Rachel Treloar — 2010-03-15T02:07:47+05:30

For a Foucauldian lens on women and power you might look at some of Lois McNay's earlier work, and Carol Smart's 'Feminism and the Power of Law'.

[Foucault-L] Call for papers

Fabio Belo — 2010-03-15T00:47:22+05:30

Dear all, at the end of April will happen at the Milton Campos Faculty of Law, in Nova Lima (a city nearby Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais, Brazil), the 2nd National Congress on Psychoanalysis, Law and Literature, whose theme is *Ethics and Aesthetics of Existence*. We are receiving pappers untill April, 4th. For further informations (Portuguese only): www.conpdl.com.br You're all welcome. And, please, publish this information to the eventually interested people. Thanks! Fábio Belo Psyhcology Professor PhD in Literary Studies www.fabiobelo.com.br

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Alastair Kemp — 2010-03-14T13:49:16+05:30

From: Natalia Fior Subject: [Foucault-L] women and power To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Saturday, 13 March, 2010, 23:17 Hello, I am looking for scholarship on Foucault and women and power. Specifically women's rights in order to theorize around the political divide among progressives and conservatives on the topic of a woman's right to choose (i.e. abortion). I'm interested in how power plays upon women, how women use and take power, and how women are given or denied power in western society. I am familiar with Butler's theories and several French feminists but would like to find other contemporary scholars working on women and Foucault who are not necessarily Freudian or Lacanian. Nietzschean's welcome. Natalia Fior nataliafior@xxxxxxx _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Livsey, Lynne — 2010-03-14T05:13:30+05:30

You may be interested in following : Jones, H. (2005), Visibility and consent, the sexual abuse of elderly women, IN Foucault and Aging, EDs J.Powell and A.Wahidin, Nova Science Publishers. pp. 89-100. Looks at issues of power and sexual violence against older women using a Foucauldin lens. Lynne Livsey PhD Student Institute of Gerontology King's College London email: lynne.livsey@xxxxxxxxx ________________________________________ From: foucault-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [foucault-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Natalia Fior [nataliafior@xxxxxxx] Sent: 13 March 2010 23:17 To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [Foucault-L] women and power Hello, I am looking for scholarship on Foucault and women and power. Specifically women's rights in order to theorize around the political divide among progressives and conservatives on the topic of a woman's right to choose (i.e. abortion). I'm interested in how power plays upon women, how women use and take power, and how women are given or denied power in western socie...

Re: [Foucault-L] women and power

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-14T05:10:33+05:30

[Foucault-L] women and power

Natalia Fior — 2010-03-14T04:47:19+05:30

Hello, I am looking for scholarship on Foucault and women and power. Specifically women's rights in order to theorize around the political divide among progressives and conservatives on the topic of a woman's right to choose (i.e. abortion). I'm interested in how power plays upon women, how women use and take power, and how women are given or denied power in western society. I am familiar with Butler's theories and several French feminists but would like to find other contemporary scholars working on women and Foucault who are not necessarily Freudian or Lacanian. Nietzschean's welcome. Natalia Fior nataliafior@xxxxxxx

[Foucault-L] foucault and social movements

Andrew Culp — 2010-03-14T00:45:32+05:30

David Halperin's "Saint Foucault" is perhaps the most sustained engagement with Foucault, his personal thoughts on social movements, and it's initial reception within queer-focused political action like Queer Nation and ACT-UP. There are a lot of short references in Foucault's interviews to social movements and political emphasis - the most popular is a Deleuze/Foucault conversation entitled "Intellectuals & Power". A common reference is to Foucault passing mention of "hyper-pessimistic activism." While he was deeply involved in political action throughout his whole life (from the asylum, to the prison, and current events), he tended to stick to early-Modern France in his academic work. Biographies like Eribon's (and Halperin's) or even the semi-biographical account of Focault's time in Iran might give a fuller account of how to connect his circumscribed academic work to his greater personal involvement with political action. As far as secondary literature goes, I like Michael Hardt's read. Included in both L...

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements

David McInerney — 2010-03-13T22:04:10+05:30

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Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements

Nick Butler — 2010-03-13T18:21:15+05:30

Hi Nick, You might want to have a look at the book 'Foucault and the Iranian Revolution' (2005) by J. Afary and K. Andersen (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=3534878). The book discusses Foucault's interest in the Islamist movement in the late 1970s, about which he wrote a number of newspaper articles during this time. In terms of social movements, I think this whole area is quite promising for anyone interested in Foucault's views on political action. I hope that helps. All the best, Nick _________________________________________________________________ Tell us your greatest, weirdest and funniest Hotmail stories http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/

[Foucault-L] Fwd: CCS: Programação 1-2010

Nildo Avelino — 2010-03-13T17:18:50+05:30

hi all, it´s in portuguese, but... all best nildo ---------- Mensagem encaminhada ---------- De: Francisco Ripo Data: 4 de março de 2010 19:09 Assunto: CCS: Programação 1-2010 Para: CENTRO DE CULTURA SOCIAL Convida para: 1. oficina 2. literatura 3. cinema ---------- * ---------- 1. oficina: “Foucault e o anarquismo” Coordenação de Nildo Avelino* O objetivo da oficina é propor um estudo sobre as relações entre a reflexão política e filosófica de Michel Foucault e o pensamento anarquista de Pierre-Joseph Proudhon e Errico Malatesta. A pertinência em estudar “Focault e o anarquismo” está no fato de que, desde os anos 1990, tornara-se evidente que os efeitos na política e na filosofia produzidos pela crítica foucaultiana do Sujeito e do Poder afetaram enormemente não apenas as Ciências Humanas, mas também, e de uma maneira extraordinária, os modos através dos quais eram percebidas as tradições políticas liberal, marxista e anarquista. A força inovadora do 01C;efeito Foucault” em rela#...

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements

Alastair Kemp — 2010-03-13T17:09:42+05:30

From: Umut Kocagöz Subject: Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Saturday, 13 March, 2010, 10:56 hi. Maybe you can look for Negri's works. I don't know any exact place, but in their Empire(with Hardt) there is a part called 'Biopolitical production'. I guess that Negri does not position himself as Gramscian or neo-gramscian; he is more likely to be Foucaultian or Deleuzean. Or you can check the Italian Autonomist movement (especially 1968-1977) and their debates. Radical Thought in Italy can be an essential source for this movement. (Hardt, Virno, Lazzarato, Negri etc...) _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/210850552/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements

Umut Kocagöz — 2010-03-13T16:26:18+05:30

hi. Maybe you can look for Negri's works. I don't know any exact place, but in their Empire(with Hardt) there is a part called 'Biopolitical production'. I guess that Negri does not position himself as Gramscian or neo-gramscian; he is more likely to be Foucaultian or Deleuzean. Or you can check the Italian Autonomist movement (especially 1968-1977) and their debates. Radical Thought in Italy can be an essential source for this movement. (Hardt, Virno, Lazzarato, Negri etc...) _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/210850552/direct/01/

[Foucault-L] Foucault, intelligibility, social movements

Nick Montgomery — 2010-03-13T03:36:19+05:30

hi all, i'm looking for places where foucault (and foucault scholarship) takes on the question of 'social movements' and/or 'collective action' (or 'politics' more generally), especially with respect to the question of intelligibility. in other words: i'm trying to figure out how social movements become intelligible, and ideally find some nuanced thinkers on this question. so far, laclau and mouffe and the theory of 'hegemony' is as far as i've gone, but laclau positions himself as a gramscian, not a foucauldian. on this note, does anyone know of specific debates between foucauldians and gramscians on these questions? any guidance on these questions would be much appreciated. cheers, nick

[Foucault-L] rapport - relation

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-12T13:12:36+05:30

in attempting to translate the French to English, I've noticed that Foucault seems to prefer the term "rapport" over "relation" in such phrases as "rapport de soi à soi," but that when he talks about power relations he uses the term "relation" (relations de pouvoir). e.g. Après l'étude des jeux de vérité les par rapport aux autres - sur l'exemple d'un certain nombre de sciences empiriques au XVII et au XVIII siècle - puis celles des jeux de vérité par rapport aux relations de pouvoir, sur l'exemple des pratiques punitives, un autre travail semblait s'imposer : étudier les jeux de vérité dans le rapport de soi à soi et la constitution de soi-même comme sujet, en prenant, pour domaine de référence et champ d'investigation ce qu'on pourrait appeler l'"histoire de l'homme de désir (Up : 12). 1) is there any significance to this? is it that relation simply means that two or more things are related, wheras rapport implies more of a mutual, reciprocal (harmonius?) relation? i.e. that rapport implies a specific kind ...

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Teemu K — 2010-03-10T18:41:56+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-10T16:28:11+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

M. Karskens — 2010-03-10T16:10:40+05:30

Prof. Machiel Karskens social and political philosophy Faculty of Philosophy Radboud University Nijmegen - The Netherlands

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Chathan Vemuri — 2010-03-10T00:36:48+05:30

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Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-10T00:28:35+05:30

life, once again, has a purpose, and man can take up his rightful place at the center of all things... http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/mar/05/meaning-life-evolution-universe

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-09T16:11:55+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

M. Karskens — 2010-03-09T16:01:17+05:30

Prof. Machiel Karskens social and political philosophy Faculty of Philosophy Radboud University Nijmegen - The Netherlands

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-07T01:33:29+05:30

did foucault have a project? ____________________________________________________________ Receive Notifications of Incoming Messages Easily monitor multiple email accounts & access them with a click. Visit http://www.inbox.com/notifier and check it out!

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Emmanoel B — 2010-03-07T00:16:22+05:30

Hi, all, In regards to the usage Foucault makes of truth, professor's Prado book (Cambridge, 2006), "Searle and Foucault on Truth" might be useful. On pp. 81-100 he shows that Foucault provides a "multifaceted characterization" of truth in five parts. One of them is the "tacit-realist" version of truth. Prado concludes, "Foucault is a realist, albeit a tacit-realist, so I thing the only option is to try to understand how truth is wholly discursive, hence is a product of power, but without its being so entailing a denial of objective reality (...)" Professor Béatrice Han-Pile also has a similar interpretation. Best, Emmanoel 2010/3/6 Chetan Vemuri

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-06T23:45:11+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-06T23:44:41+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Kay Fisher — 2010-03-06T17:41:44+05:30

This seems similar to Althusser's attempts to distinguish between discourses in terms of the 'adequacy' of their 'grasp' of the material world, a rather tricky notion in that idealist discourses such as empiricism always attempt to exploit it. I'm not sure how one avoids it though, unless one accepts the extreme relativism that would assert that the phlogiston theory is equally valid way of looking at the generation of heat as thermodynamics. It is clear that one gives us a more adequate grasp of material reality, but if one attempts to 'go around' discourse to find a way to see whether it corresponds to something outside of itself then, whoops, there we are back with the 'subject of knowledge' etc etc. _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list Foucault-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://foucault.info/mailman/listinfo/foucault-l End of Foucault-L Digest, Vol 10, Issue 6 *******************...

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Edward Comstock — 2010-03-06T08:38:57+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

David McInerney — 2010-03-06T02:56:06+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Chathan Vemuri — 2010-03-06T02:49:40+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] Foucault and "human nature"

Edward Comstock — 2010-03-06T02:41:34+05:30

I suppose I'm somewhat confused by the original question. It seems to me that if Foucault thought we had a knowable human nature, he would also think that we would have a firm transcendental grounding on which to base an empirical knowledge about man, which is precisely what he does not think. It also seems to me that even what we call human nature or look for is going to change based on different knowledge practices, such that the question can only be answered within given systems of knowledge. Foucault, after all, for instance, believed that modern medicine presented valid abstractions against which we could gain usefull knowedges. But I dont' take this to mean that he believes modern medicine to be "true" in the absolute sense. _____________________ Ed Comstock College Writing Program Department of Literature American University ------------------------------------ The easy possibility of letter writing must--seen theoretically--have brought into the world a terrible dislocation of souls. It is, in fact, a...

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-06T00:10:05+05:30

Or, put another way, the very envirnment in which we live and that, in fact, makes life possible, is also what enables death. For example, oxygen, which is what makes life on this planet possible, is also poisonous to us, the more we breath, and the more our skin and our bodies are in cantact with it, the more it kills us. Or, put another way, the fact the we move around our environment, and move thing relative to ourselves within that environment, litterally wears us out. But in order to live with and in this environment, we have to move and move things. So, what enables life also makes possible death. Thus, the functioning that makes life possible - i.e. the general, everyday, and necessary processes of life - by wearing matter (i.e. our bodies) out, makes death possible . I think it is important here to avoid any vitalist notion of life; by life I take Foucault to simply mean concrete, everyday existence. Regards, Kevin. ____________________________________________________________ FREE 3D MARINE AQUARIUM S...

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Thomas Lord — 2010-03-05T22:19:37+05:30

I believe that he is more less talking about entropy as it pertains to organisms. You could put it this way: The molecular structure of an organism, let's say a mammal for example, has some interesting properties. These properties "play out" in the basic rules of physics in such a way that starting from nearly nothing (a zygote), less-orderly energy inputs to the organism are processed, for a time, to produce an organism of ever-increasing complexity. You started as a zygote. That zygote was "fed". You built more and more cells, eventually differentiating them into various organs of highly specialized functionality. In short, you became comprised of a more and more complex and orderly arrangement of matter, becoming ever better at taking energy inputs and using them to maintain and further elaborate the structure of your molecular arrangement. This is one of the hallmarks of "life". At the same time, there are relentless laws of thermodynamics and if we consider your body and its environment as a whole, thes...

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Matt Wootton — 2010-03-05T20:51:26+05:30

From: Kevin Turner Subject: Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature" To: "Mailing-list" Date: Friday, 5 March, 2010, 7:30 There's a passage from an interview that Foucault gave (in 1967, I think), which may help to shed some light on his understanding of "human nature." The passage comes from 'Who are you, Professor Foucault?' in Carrette, J. R. (ed.) Religion and Culture, Manchester, 1999: 87-104, and it reads: We have to resign ourselves to taking, faced with mankind, a position similar to the one taken towards the end of the eighteenth century with regard to other living species, when it was realised that they did not function for someone – neither for themselves, nor for man, nor for God – but that they quite simply functioned. Organisms function. Why do they function? In order to reproduce? Not at all. To keep alive? No more for this reason. They function. They function in a very ambiguous way, in order to live but also in order to die, since it i...

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-05T19:41:29+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Aragorn Eloff — 2010-03-05T15:56:19+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

David McInerney — 2010-03-05T15:30:21+05:30

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Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-05T13:01:10+05:30

There's a passage from an interview that Foucault gave (in 1967, I think), which may help to shed some light on his understanding of "human nature." The passage comes from 'Who are you, Professor Foucault?' in Carrette, J. R. (ed.) Religion and Culture, Manchester, 1999: 87-104, and it reads: We have to resign ourselves to taking, faced with mankind, a position similar to the one taken towards the end of the eighteenth century with regard to other living species, when it was realised that they did not function for someone – neither for themselves, nor for man, nor for God – but that they quite simply functioned. Organisms function. Why do they function? In order to reproduce? Not at all. To keep alive? No more for this reason. They function. They function in a very ambiguous way, in order to live but also in order to die, since it is well known that the functioning which makes life possible is a functioning which constantly wears matter out, in such a way that it is precisely that which makes possible life wh...

Re: [Foucault-L] Homo Natura

michael bibby — 2010-03-05T13:00:39+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Aragorn Eloff — 2010-03-05T12:47:36+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

David McInerney — 2010-03-05T12:37:49+05:30

around a the _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list _______________________________________________ Foucault-L mailing list

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-05T11:41:38+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Mehmet Kentel — 2010-03-05T08:44:38+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Teresa Mayne — 2010-03-05T08:36:34+05:30

[Foucault-L] foucault and "human nature"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-05T01:35:23+05:30

So this is probably a rather old topic or debate that's been tossed around before but does anyone here actually think Foucault rejected the idea of a "human nature" outright as in universal human behaviors? I don't think the rejected the latter per say but I do htink he rejected the idea of a universal human "nature" or "essence" that could be discovered with knowledge or liberty, a position shared also by Nietzsche, Von MIses and Hannah Arendt. what do you guys think? And do you think a "critique" or "rejection" of human nature as a concept is necessarily as "flawed" as some make it out to be?

Re: [Foucault-L] translation and interpretation question.

Timothy O'Leary — 2010-03-02T15:24:24+05:30

Re: [Foucault-L] translation and interpretation question.

Kevin Turner — 2010-03-02T13:05:43+05:30

Hi Timothy, Our translations are very close, but as a novice in the translation game, I’m curious about the terms “instaure” and “fonde.” The first term can be translated as institutes, but I’ve read that if it implies a link between things then is should be translated as establishes; I’ve also read that if what is being instituted is a regime or a dialogue (i.e. a regime of truth, a dialogue with oneself) the it should also be translated as establish. Interestingly the term can also mean “to impose,” “to found,” and “to organise.” The word “fonde” is even more interesting. From what I can tell it is the subjunctive of the verb “fonder”, which means to found, set up (but can also mean “to justify”): as such, it too could be translated as establish. However, “fonde” is also the subjunctive of the verb “fondre,” which means to fuse together, to merge or to combine. It’s interesting how the different possible translation of each of these terms changes the meaning of the translated passage. Of course, one should ...

Re: [Foucault-L] Representation versus "symbolic thinking"

Chetan Vemuri — 2010-03-02T03:35:35+05:30