Foucault News

News and resources on French thinker Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Daniele Lorenzini
“La politique des conduites. Pour une histoire du rapport entre subjectivation éthique et subjectivité politique”

Université Paris-Est Créteil, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil (métro Créteil-Université, ligne 8), salle des thèses

lorenzini-these

Résumé :
À partir de l’usage croisé des perspectives philosophiques de Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot et Stanley Cavell, cette thèse vise à inaugurer un champ de recherche en éthique et en philosophie politique jusqu’à maintenant presque inexploré. Elle a trois objectifs principaux : (1) Explorer le rapport qui existe entre éthique et politique, ou plus précisément entre philosophie morale et philosophie politique, à travers la redéfinition de leurs objets, de leurs méthodes et de leurs buts respectifs par le biais d’un usage spécifique de la pensée de Michel Foucault et de Ludwig Wittgenstein. Élaborer par conséquent une « philosophie analytique de la politique » qui se propose de rendre visible l’existence et le fonctionnement concret du pouvoir dans ses ramifications ordinaires et son impact assujettissant-subjectivant sur la vie quotidienne des individus. (2) Mettre en lumière la valeur des techniques de soi et des exercices spirituels, ou mieux de ce que l’on suggère d’appeler « techniques de l’ordinaire », grâce à la comparaison, mais aussi à la mise « en tension », des travaux du dernier Michel Foucault, de Pierre Hadot et de Stanley Cavell (notamment ceux qui abordent le « perfectionnisme moral »), ainsi que, entre autres, de Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Stuart Mill, Henry David Thoreau, Iris Murdoch et Cora Diamond. (3) Poser le problème du statut de la vérité à l’intérieur d’une telle perspective éthico-politique, en défendant la nécessité d’élaborer une conception non-épistémologique de la vérité et en s’interrogeant sur le rôle que cette conception joue par rapport aux techniques de l’ordinaire.

“The Politics of Conduct. A History of the Relationship between Ethical Subjectivation and Political Subjectivity”

Abstract:
Starting from a crossed use of Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot and Stanley Cavell’s philosophical perspectives, this dissertation aims to open a new field of research in ethics and political philosophy. It has three main objectives: (1) Exploring the relationship between ethics and politics, or more precisely between moral and political philosophy, through a redefinition of their objects, methods and goals via a specific use of Michel Foucault and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s thought. Developing, as a consequence, an “analytic philosophy of politics” aiming to make visible the existence and concrete functioning of power in its ordinary ramifications and its effects of subjection-subjectivation on the everyday life of the individuals. (2) Highlighting the value of the techniques of the self and the spiritual exercises, or better of what can be called the “techniques of the ordinary”, thanks to the comparison, but also the confrontation, between the works of Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot and Stanley Cavell (especially his writings on “moral perfectionism”), as well as, among others, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Stuart Mill, Henry David Thoreau, Iris Murdoch and Cora Diamond. (3) Raising the problem of the meaning of the notion of truth within such an ethico-political context, defending the necessity to elaborate a non-epistemological conception of truth and exploring its role in relation to the techniques of the ordinary.

Hammersley, M., Traianou, A.
Foucault and Research Ethics: On the Autonomy of the Researcher
(2014) Qualitative Inquiry, 20 (3), pp. 227-238.

Abstract
This article uses the later writings of Foucault as a means of reflecting on research ethics, and in particular on the notion of researcher autonomy. It is suggested that such autonomy is a precondition for ethical practice, and also for sound research, and it is noted that it is under threat today, not least from creeping ethical regulation. Foucault’s philosophical position is outlined, noting the shift that took place in his later writings. There have been only a few attempts to use his ideas in thinking about research ethics, but we examine how they have been applied in relation to the ethics of anthropology. This is followed by a discussion of some widely recognized, and quite serious, problems with Foucault’s position. Finally, a number of positive and negative lessons that can be learned from his work are presented.

Author Keywords
autonomy; Foucault; research ethics

DOI: 10.1177/1077800413489528

“Foucault: The Masked Philosopher”
An International Conference
June 8-9, 2014
Bar-Ilan University & The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

masked-philosopher

Semaine du 14 au 20 juin : Spécial Michel Foucault / Alain Juppé / Samuel Pisar / Michael Edwards…

SPECIAL MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926-1984)
> samedi 14 juin

16h-17h UNE VIE, UNE ŒUVRE

Michel Foucault par Christine Goémé

L’œuvre de Michel Foucault est surtout connue pour ses effets militants : elle a démystifié le pouvoir médical, l’enfermement des fous et des criminels ; elle est une vue critique archéologique de nos façons de voir, de savoir et de sentir. Mais on n’insistera jamais assez sur ce qui importait à travers tout cela. Une interrogation sur la nature et l’histoire du vrai. Comment des valeurs, des réalités, ou des discours deviennent-ils vrais ? C’est à saisir cette naissance de la vérité que Michel Foucault s’est consacré. Comment en effet Michel Foucault a-t-il travaillé à faire surgir la vérité, selon cette manière de cerner l’espace où se produisent des effets de vérité, par-delà le jeu entre le vrai et le faux ? Non pas système de pensée, mais méthode d’approche à travers la confrontation de plusieurs discours et de plusieurs réalités. Non pas réflexion sur des objets de savoir, mais à partir d’objets laissés de côté par le savoir, comme en creux. Que l’homme ait à se “dépendre de lui-même”, telle sera la démonstration de cette émission, en prise directe avec l’enseignement de Michel Foucault et sa déconstruction des systèmes. (1ère diff. 7/07/1988).

>  du samedi 14 au lundi 16 juin 15 juin, 2 nuits spéciales Foucault : archives et entretiens avec Frédéric Gros, philosophe, Eric Fassin, sociologue et Philippe Artières, philosophe.

Du 14 au 15 juin, 0h-6h30 LES NUITS par Philippe Garbit – Réalisation : Virginie Mourthé

Nuit spéciale Michel Foucault (1/2) avec Frédéric Gros et Eric Fassin

0h-0h30 Entretien avec Frédéric Gros

0h30-5h15 Michel Foucault : l’art de penser (1/2) par Christine Goémé (1ère diff. 3/08/1991)

Avec Raymond Bellour, Robert Castel, Daniel Defert, Bruno Karsenti, Jacques Lagrange, Gérard Lebrun, Anne-Marie Lecoq, Pierre Macherey, Jean-Claude Milner, Judith Revel et Severo Sarduy

5h15-5h45 Entretien avec Eric Fassin

A propos de la réédition de Herculine Barbin dite Alexina B.

5h45-6h25 L’usage de la parole – Langages de la folie (3)

La persécution par Michel Foucault (1ère diff. 21/01/1963)

Du 15 au 16 juin, 0h-6h30 LES NUITS par Philippe Garbit

Nuit spéciale Michel Foucault (2/2) avec Philippe Artières

0h-0h25 Entretien avec Philippe Artières

0h25-5h20 Michel Foucault : l’art de penser (2/2) par Christine Goémé (1ère diff. 4/08/1991)

Avec Daniel Defert, Myriam Revault d’Allonnes, Danielle Rancière, Michelle Perrot, Christian Jambet, Pierre Macherey, Jacques Lagrange, Arlette Farge, François Ewald, Jean-Pierre Vernant et Pierre Hadot

5h20-5h55 L’usage de la parole – Langages de la folie : Le langage en folie par Michel Foucault (1ère diff. 4/02/1963)

PPCspine22mmTony McHugh, Faces Inside and Outside the Clinic. A Foucauldian Perspective on Cosmetic Facial Modification. Routledge, 2017
[Originally published by Ashgate, 2013]

Drawing on studies of surface topography, image editing, and diagnostic and surgical experience, Faces Inside and Outside the Clinic addresses the notion of ‘truth’ in what are considered to be ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ faces, whether in clinical cosmetic procedures or in specific sociocultural contexts outside the clinic. With attention to the manner in which the human face – and often the individual herself or himself as a consequence – is physically defined, conceptually judged, numerically measured and clinically analysed, this book reveals that on closer inspection, supposedly objective and evidential ‘truths’ are in fact subjective and prescriptive.

Adopting a Foucauldian analysis of the ways in which ‘normalising technologies’ and ‘techniques’ ultimately preserve and expand upon an increasing array of ‘abnormal’ facial configurations, Faces Inside and Outside the Clinic shows that when determining ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ faces, what happens inside the clinic is inextricably linked to what happens outside the clinic – and vice versa. As such, it will be of interest to scholars and students of social, cultural and political theory, contemporary philosophy and the social scientific study of science, health and technology.

  • Contents: Foreword, Nikki Sullivan; Introduction: the human face is…; Surfaces and depths in and of the face; Re-visioning faces in time and space; Technologies and techniques of and for the face; The face of an-other as oneself; Conclusion; References; Index.
  • About the Author: Tony McHugh is a research associate in the Department of Media, Music, Communication, and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University, Australia, and has three decades of diagnostic and surgical teaching experience at the University of Sydney, Australia.
  • Reviews: ‘This book is excellent in every dimension: originality, significance, scope of argument…demonstrating that medical knowledge is always situated and showing the relevance of Foucault’s work to our understanding of the contemporary patient as medical subject.’
    Arthur Frank, University of Calgary, Canada

‘Much has been written from outside the clinic about the body and the technologies that are employed to refashion it. This remarkable volume however is written by a surgeon from inside the clinic. The result is an authoritative but compassionate study of the face, its ontological complexity and its diverse cultural meanings.’
Bryan S. Turner, The City University of New York, USA

‘This is a fascinating account of the face and its surgical modification by an oral plastic surgeon and scholar of Foucault. The angle of vision McHugh brings to the subject of cosmetic surgery is unique and imaginative; it is both theoretically sophisticated and grounded in the embodied experiences of patients and surgeons both inside and outside the clinic.‘
Victoria Pitts-Taylor, Queens College and Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

becker Gary S. Becker, Nobel-winning scholar of economics and sociology, 1930-2014

Obituary by William Harms, UChicago News, May 4 2014

Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker, AM’53, PhD’55, made historic changes to the study of economics and the social sciences, combining disciplines to understand decisions in everyday life, while spawning rich new questions for scholars in diverse fields to pursue.

Becker, 83, University Professor of Economics and of Sociology at the University of Chicago, died on May 3 following complications from a recent surgery. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 [1] “for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including non-market behavior.”

Becker pioneered study in the fields of human capital, economics of the family, and economic analysis of crime, discrimination, addiction, and population. University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer said Becker will be remembered as one of the foremost economics scholars of the 20th century.

“Gary was a transformational thinker of truly remarkable impact on the world and an extraordinary individual,” Zimmer said. “He was intellectually fearless. As a scholar and as a person, he represented the best of what the University of Chicago aspires to be.”

Read more

Xavier Riondet ECS Forum 13/12/2013
À côté de Freinet : une enquête philosophico-historique d’allure foucaldienne

Education, Culture and Society Research Group Forum
KU Leuven

Henrik Bang, Rethinking Michel Foucault: The Political Circle of Parrhesia and Democracy, 2014

Video of seminar

As part of ‘s seminar series, Professor Henrik Bang (University of Canberra) indicates perspectives on Michel Foucault that can inform our understanding of democracy.

Michel Foucault has become an exemplar in the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, history, linguistics and literary criticism. Ironically, he has never made much of an impact upon the political discipline, to which he first of all belongs, and in which he deserves a prominent position as one of the best political theorists and researchers of all time. In particular in his later strings of lectures from 1978 to 1984 he develops an empirical and normative approach to studying the political as governmentality.

Anthony Merino, Foucault for Dummies,  Arts & Opinion. Arts, Culture, Analysis, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2014

Michel Foucault wrote anti-historical histories. He is most noted for his histories of four social domains: mental illness, crime and punishment, health systems, and sexuality. With a few exceptions, he does not talk much about art. He wrote a short book on René Magritte’s “Ceci n’est pas une pipe,” French for “This is not a pipe,” and in The Order of Things, Foucault wrote on Diego Velázquez’s painting “Las Meninas.” Foucault has been called a lot of things: historian, structuralist, Marxist, linguist, colonialist, nihilist and sociologist. He wrote two books on art, but these were not central to his work. So, why read Foucault? His influence on contemporary thought and society is profound. His thought seeps through academic disciplines into popular culture. Intellectual paranoia permeates his writing. For Foucault the most insidious forms of domination are those guised as given. Foucault was also a serial inverter who constantly switched cause and effect. Foucault’s writings say nothing about making a ceramic pot. The process of making a pot can however, illuminate many of the more difficult theories Foucault promoted.
Read more

Full article
Anthony Merino, independent art critic, has published over 70 reviews. He is a ceramic artist and has lectured internationally on contemporary ceramics.

Governmentality in the Age of Neoliberalism

Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Video of Professor Wendy Brown’s talk in March 2014 at the Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture at the University of Victoria in Canada on governmentality in the age of neoliberalism.