Thinkers and their oeuvre are not monolithic structures. They evolve and take new forms just as the circumstances in which they do their research change. Sometimes these shifts have rather dramatic meaning and become synonymous with larger changes, like scientific ‘turns’ or even paradigmatic breaks, so we talk, for instance, about ‘late Wittgenstein’. There’s a particular kind of drama to ‘late Michel Foucault’. Originally a (post)structuralist prophet of ‘the death of the subject’, who revealed insiduous power of anonymous discourses that defined ‘Western modernity’, Foucault refocused his work towards individual ethics and ‘hermeneutics of the subject’ rooted deeply in ancient philosophies. It happened in early 1980s, around the time when this famed ‘analyst of finitude’ began to face his own death. He then endeavored to ‘generally re-center’ the original plans for his ‘History of Sexuality’ and vigorously re-inscribed the notions of ‘care of the self’ and ‘truth telling’ within this research program.
Why and how did he do it? With what effects? Why should social scientists care today about his ‘decentering’ move towards the individual ’art of living’ and the guidance it required – ‘the art of arts’?
This advanced Lektüreseminar revolves around these questions, starting from some key insights formulated in ‘Subjectivity & Truth, 1980-1981 (2017) and ‘The Hermeneutics of the Subject, 1981–1982’ (2005), two series of lectures he had delivered at College de France where he was the professor of the history of systems of thought. They paved the way for ‘The Use of Pleasure’ and ‘The Care of the Self’ (Volume II & III of ‘The History of Sexuality’ respectively, both published in 1984 right before his death), as well as for ‘Confessions of the Flesh’ (aka Volume IV of ‘History of Sexuality’) which was in fact drafted before Volumes II and III and which Foucault was still editing on his death bed but did not complete. It was published posthumously – and only recently (French original in 2018, English in 2021).
‘Confessions’ revisited some of the key works by Stoic philosophers and Patristic literature – two bridges between Greco-Latin antiquity and the early mediaeval period. The analysis of these volumes of ‘History of Sexuality’ will be complemented by close readings of the last two series of College de France Lectures (‘The Government of Self and Others, 1982-1983’ & ‘The Courage of Truth, 1983-1984’), as well as by Foucault’s other final lectures, especially the ones that explicitly thematize the notion of parresia – his last key concept. This whole body of work is perhaps Foucault’s deepest engagement with historical roots of what we call ‘Western philosophy’, and it profoundly informed different transformative discourses of late twentieth century, from Charles Taylor’s “Sources of the Self” to James Scott’s “Arts of Resistance” to Edward Said’s analysis of intellectuals’ duty of “speaking truth to power”. At the same time, and beyond that, it has decisively impacted what is seen as crucial concerns of today, from the notions of authenticity, self-realization and self-optimization to the issues of desire, sexual identity and mental health.
INTRODUCTION
Week 1: Thursday 20. April – PROLOGUE: ARCHITECTURE OF THE SELF
Themes: FRAMING THE SEMINAR, PLAN OF THE SEMINAR, KEY THEMES AND ARGUMENTS. METHOD DISCOURSES OF HUMANS’ ‘INNER ARCHITECTURE’. HISTORY OF IDEAS AND “HISTORY OF SYSTEMS OF THOUGHT”. TURNING TO A HISTORY OF SELF. ETHICS & AESTHETICS VS. PHYSICS & LOGIC. WHO WAS ARISTON FROM CHIOS AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE? CAN FOUCAULT’S INTERPRETATION OF ANCIENT TEXTS MATTER TODAY FOR SOCIOLOGISTS? IF YES, HOW? THE CONNECTION TO MAX WEBER. THE SIGNIFICATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF DISCOURSE. WHAT IS SELF? WHAT IS SUBJECTIVITY? WHAT IS ‘INNER ARCHITECTURE’? SO WHAT?
Texts:
Foucault 2019a: 25–43
Elden 2018: the link in bibliograph+ Elden 2016, excerpts
Weber, Max Wissenschaft als Beruf, 1919. In: Gerth & Wright Mills 1948: 143–156.
Le Corbusier, Architecture of Truth, 1956. In: Herve, Lucien. 2001.
Week 2: 27. April–THE ‘ARTS OF LIVING’: SEX, SUBJECTIVITY & HISTORICITY
Themes: FRAMING THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEMINAR – TECHNIQUES OF THE SELF & ARTS OF LIVING. WHY THE QUESTIONS OF SELF MATTER, HOW CAN (AND SHOULD) THEY MATTER? SUBJECTIVITY AND SEXUALITY, SITUATEDNESS OF SELF AND DISCOURSE, HISTORICITY OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND SOCIAL MEANING, HISTORY OF SEXUALITY. WHAT COUNTS AS ‘ARTS OF LIVING’? WHY IS SEXUALITY CENTRAL TO SUBJECTIVITY?
Texts:
Foucault 2019a, excerpts:
Foucault 1978, excerpts:
Foucault 1970, excerpts:
Nehamas 1998. Introduction
PART I: TECHNIQUES OF THE SELF
Week 3: 4. Mai–TECHNIQUES OF SELF I: HERMENEUTICS OF THE SUBJECTS
Themes: INTERPRETATION OF SELF, SELF-EXAMINATION: SUBJECT & THE ART AND CRAFT OF SUBJECTIVITY, ‘DIAGNOSIS’ & ‘THERAPY’, BIOS & LOGOS IN ANTIQUITY AND BEYOND
Texts:
Foucault 2005: excerpts
Nehamas 1998, excerpts
Taylor, Charles, 1991 & 1989, excerpts
Weeks 4: 11. Mai–TECHNIQUES OF SELF II: THE USE OF PLEASURE
Themes: APHRODISIA. SEXUAL PLEASURE. THE USE OF PLEASURE. THE MEANING OF PLEASURE. SEX AS ACT & AS ASPECT OF SUBJECTIVITY. ISOMOPRHISIM OF THE SOCIAL AND THE SEXUAL. ‘HISTORY OF SEXUALITY VOL. II’
Texts:
Foucault 1985, excerpts; Foucault 2019, excerpts
Vout, C. 2013, excerpts
Week 5: 18. Mai–TECHNIQUES OF SELF III: THE CARE OF THE SELF
Themes: FROM SELF-EXAMINATION TO SELF-KNOWLEDGE. SELF AS SUBJECT & SELF AS OBJECT OF CARE AND KNOWLEDGE. THE DUALITY OF SUBJECTIVATION/OBJECTIVATION. ‘HISTORY OF SEXUALITY VOL. III’
Texts:
Foucault 1986, excerpts; Foucault 2005: excerpts
Week 6: 25. Mai–‘THE ART OF ARTS’: CONFESSIONS OF THE FLESH
Themes: FROM SELF-KNOWLEDGE TO SELF-CONTROL. CONFESSION AS TECHNIQUE OF THE SELF. ‘THE ART OF ARTS’. FROM ARTS OF LIVING TO ARS MORIENDI.
Texts:
Foucault 2021: 79–116; Foucault 2019: 249–312.
Week 7: 1. June–THE FLESH: DESIRE & ‘LIBIDINIZATION OF SEX’
Themes: DESIRE. LIBIDO. SEX & SEXUALITY. DIMOPRHISM OF THE SOCIAL AND THE SEXUAL. DEATH-TRUTH-SEX TRIANGLE AND ITS TRANSFORMATION. FLESH, SUBJECTIVITY, SEXUALITY. THE BIRTH OF DESIRE. CARPE DIEM & MEMENTO MORI.
Texts:
Foucault 2021: 256–286; Foucault 2019b, excerpts.
Week 8: 8. Juni–CONFESSION: TRUTH-TELLING, HETERONOMY, MONASTICISM
Themes: ARCANA CONSCIENTIAE. MONASTICISM & PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE. DIAKRISIS. PRIVATE VERIDICTION. INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUAL VIGILANCE & HETERONOMY. CONFESSION AS PERFORMANCE. SOUL-SEARCHING. SELF-CONTROL. CONTINENCE. VIRGINITY. CONFESSION AND SALVATION. THE DUALITY OF ‘THIS WORLDLY’ AND ‘OTHER-WORLDLY’. MONASTICISM & PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE. MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS & UNIVERSITY.
Texts:
Foucault 2021: 158–189
Weber, Max 1930, excerpts
Nietzsche 2016, excerpts
INTERMISSION
Week 9: 15. Juni–FROM SELF TO OTHERS: TRUTH-TELLING IN PARRESIA
Themes: HALF-WAY RECAPITULATION. PARRESIA AS TRUTH-TELLING & FREE SPEECH. PUBLIC VERIDICTION. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONFESSION AND PARRESIA (HISTORICAL CONTINUITY). RELATIONALITY OF CONFESSION AND PARRESIA (SOCIAL RELATION ASPECT WHERE DISCONTINUITIES OCCURRED). ‘QUESTIONS OF BELIEF’. SUBJECT AND SOCIETY. FROM SUBJECTIVITY TO SOCIALITY. “THE GOVERNMENT OF SELF AND OTHERS.”
Texts:
Foucault 2011, excerpts
Belting, Hans, 2006, excerpts
PART II: PARRESIA
Week 10: 22. Juni–PARRESIA I: CULTURE OF SELF & TRUTH-TELLING
Themes: HOW IS PARRESIA RELATED TO NOTIONS OF TRUTH AND SELF? THE ROLE OF PARRESIA IN CULTURES OF SELF. KINDS OF PARRESIA. TYPOLOGY AND DIMENSIONS OF PARRESIA. GOOD AND BAD PARRESIA. DISCOURSE AND TRUTH-TELLING
Texts:
Nietzsche, Friedrich 1979: excerpts
Foucault 2021: 79–116.
Foucault 2019b: several short excerpts
Foucault 2011: 41–47.
Week 11: 29. Juni–PARRESIA II: DISCOURSE, VERIDICTION & GAMES OF TRUTH
Themes: REVISITING THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCOURSE, KINDS OF DISCOURSES (PERFORMATIVE VS DRAMATIC), ONTOLOGY OF DISCOURSE & FORMATION OF EXPERIENCE. THE CONCEPT OF VERIDICTION, SUBJECTIVITY AND TRUTH, GAMES OF TRUTH.
Texts:
Foucault 2019b: multiple excerpts
Alexander 2016
Week 12: 6. Juli–PARRESIA III: ETHICS & (BIO)POLITICS
Themes: LINKING TECHNIQUES OF THE SELF (THE ‘PRIVATE’ + THE GOVERNMENT OF SELF) WITH SOCIETY (THE ‘PUBLIC’ + THE GOVERNMENT OF OTHERS), THIS-WORLDLY & OTHER-WORLDLY, FINITE AND INDEFINITE, ETC. EXTERIORITY OF PARRESIA IN RELATION TO POLITICS.
Texts:
Foucault 2019b: multiple excerpts
Foucault 2011: multiple excerpts
Nietzsche 2016, excerpts
Week 13: 13. Juli–PARRESIA IV: COURAGE & SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
Themes: COURAGE OF TRUTH. RISKS OF TRUTH-TELLING. PARRESIA IN POLITICS. PARRESIA VIS-À-VIS POWER. SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER.
Texts:
Foucault 2019b: several excerpts
Foucault 2012: several excerpts
Week 14: 20. Juli – EPILOQUE: FOUCAULT & PARRESIA TODAY
Themes:
FOUCAULT’S OWN ‘WILL TO KNOWLEDGE’ AS OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE AND SUBJECT’S CONFESSION. MEANINGS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LATE FOUCAULT FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL LIFE. PARRESIA AS A CONCEPT AND A PRECEPT FOR TODAY. WHAT IS GOOD LIFE AND GOOD SCIENCE?
Texts:
Gros, Frederic. 2011, ‘Course Context’: 377–388. In: Foucault 2011.
Paras 2006. Introduction + excerpts
Said, Edward, ‘Michel Foucault, 1927–1984’
Bartmanski 2012.
Elden 2016
Bibliography
The Core References and Selected Auxiliary Texts
Alexander, Jeffrey. 2016. Dramatic Intellectuals. International Journal of Politics Culture and Society.
Bartmanski, Dominik. 2012. How To Become an Iconic Thinker: Intellectual Pursuits of Malinowski and Foucault. European Journal of Social Theory.
de Beistegui, Miguel. 2018. The Government of Desire. A Geneaology of the Liberal Subject. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Belting, Hans. 2006. Das Echte Bild. Bildfragen als Glaubenfrage. München: CH Beck.
Le Corbusier, 1956 Architecture of Truth. In: Herve, Lucien, 2001. Architecture of Truth. London: Phaidon.
Deleuze, Gilles. 1988. Foucault. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Elden, Stuart. 2016. Foucault’s Last Decade. Cambridge: Polity.
Elden, Stuart. 2018. Review: Michel Foucault, ‘Confessions of the Flesh’. Theory, Culture & Society, https://www.theoryculturesociety.org/blog/review-michel-foucault-confessions-of-the-flesh
Foucault, Michel. 1970. Archaeology of Knowledge.
----------------------.1978. The History of Sexuality. The Will To Know: An Introduction Volume 1
----------------------. 1985. The Use of Pleasure (Volume 2 of History of Sexuality).
----------------------. 1986. The Care of the Self (Volume 3 of History of Sexuality)
----------------------. 2005. The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Lectures at CdF 1981-1982
----------------------. 2011. The Government of Self and Others, Lectures at CdF 1982-1983
----------------------. 2012. The Courage of Truth, Lectures at CdF 1983-1984
----------------------. 2019a. Subjectivity and Truth, Lectures at CdF 1980-1981
----------------------. 2019b. Discourse and Truth & Parresia, Lectures 1982-1983
----------------------. 2021. Confessions of the Flesh (Volume 4 of History of Sexuality)
Gerth, H.H. & C. Wright Mills. 1948. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. London: Routledge.
Gutting, Gary (ed) 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Foucault. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herve, Lucien, 2001. Architecture of Truth. London: Phaidon.
Nehamas, Alexander. 1998. The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections from Plato to Foucault. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1979. Philosophy and Truth. Amherts: Humanity Books.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 2016. Anti-Education. New York: NYRB.
Paras, Eric. 2006. Foucault 2.0: Beyond Power and Knowledge. New York: Other Press.
Taylor, Charles. 1989. Sources of the Self. The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Taylor, Charles. 1991. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Vout, Caroline. 2013. Sex on Show: Seeing the Erotic in Greece and Rome. London: The British Museum Press.
Weber, Max. 1930. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London: Routledge. |
