Foucault News

Giorgi Vachnadze, The Algorithmic Unconscious: Psychoanalyzing Artificial Intelligence (2023)

Clare O'Farrell

21 July 2023

Giorgi Vachnadze, The Algorithmic Unconscious: Psychoanalyzing Artificial Intelligence, Non, 15 July 2023

I recently came across an article that caught my attention. Written just last year. It draws a parallel between AI and psychoanalysis. Which seemed until now two completely divergent fields. It argues that we can psychoanalyze an AI. But how would that make sense? Machine Behavior, an emerging field in “psycho-robotics”, argues that it does.
“We need to study AI systems not merely as engineering artifacts, but as a class of social actors with particular behavioral patterns and ecology (Possati, L.M. 2020).”
[…]

An artificial creativity seems to be the basis for an artificial unconscious. Which in turn serves to allow us to speak meaningfully about a society of Artificial Intellects, or Artificial Actors, Subjects, Citizens etc. This brings us to the idea of a Biopolitics of Artificial Intelligence, a term that does not exist yet, but one that I wish to establish as part of my larger research project concerning Biopolitics. To repeat, this notion does not form any part of Possati’s research, at least not explicitly.
[…]

AI Biopolitics would be a study of the conditions of possibility as well as the social impact of AI on existing power-relations in a given society. How various AI systems would be used to promote class interests, privileged groups, powerful organizations, economic exploitation, warfare, minority exclusion, political agendas etc. The integration of Machine Learning into bureaucratic institutions, government surveillance systems and the police apparatus. Their role in criminality, questions of privacy and their overall function in supporting technocratic capitalism. If AI’s would be given the legal powers of an autonomous citizen, whilst following a set of hidden commands of ideologically biased algorithms, we would be dealing with yet another assault at human freedom and dignity.
[…]

Giorgi Vachnadze, Biometric Technology And The Theory Of Human Capital (2023)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

20 July 2023

Giorgi Vachnadze, Biometric Technology And The Theory Of Human Capital, Non, 8 July 2023

Authentication and Verification: Defining the Problem
Throughout his career, one of the central concerns for Foucault’s work was to investigate, analyze and offer a genealogical account of truth-telling as a mode of subjectivation. The notion of Biopolitics implies many different ways of conceiving the modern problem of truth-politics and its historical constitution. It is important to understand that truth can no longer be spelled with a capital “T”; it has now become the object of calculation, production and fabrication. Truth has become a consumer-product, it remains relevant only in so far as it can catalyze the accumulation of capital. The modern practices of truth-extraction take one of their more hideous forms, when they begin to operate on human subjects. Biometric technologies are beginning, or perhaps have already begun to play a role of increasing importance in this process. The old Marxist problem concerned with the commodification of human labor has now reached a new level when the body itself risks becoming another item on the menu. One that employers will soon be able to select, compare, assess through risk and purchase for profit. The anthropometric, medico-legal artefacts will allow for the conversion of persons into human-material, a series of bio-mass units with market-value attached to each one. The workers’ average life-expectancy i.e. their health, has a direct impact on the longevity of the firm. It will therefore be “in the interests of” both employees and managers that the company would have access to their medical files. And this is only one out of numerous similar possible scenarios.
[…]

La philosophie de Ian Hacking, avec Matteo Vagelli -video (2023)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

20 July 2023

La philosophie de Ian Hacking, avec Matteo Vagelli, July 18 2023

CFP: Happiness in Contemporary Continental Philosophy (2023-24)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

19 July 2023

Call For Papers – Happiness in Contemporary Continental Philosophy

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
for a topical issue of Open Philosophy
PDF -CFP Happiness in Contemporary Continental Philosophy

HAPPINESS IN CONTEMPORARY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

Open Philosophy (https://www.degruyter.com/opphil) invites submissions for the topical issue “Happiness in Contemporary Continental Philosophy,” edited by Ype de Boer (Radboud University, the Netherlands).

DESCRIPTION
Contemporary continental philosophy is ambivalent when it comes to happiness. It takes up a prominent position in the work of, for instance, Giorgio Agamben, with the enigmatic notion of ‘happy life’ and in that of Alain Badiou, who provocatively states that ‘[a]ll philosophy is a metaphysics of happiness… or it’s not worth an hour of trouble’. Both inherit an old tradition of ethical thought, developed from an intuition concerning a deep relation between truth, being, the good and happiness – a tradition reinvigorated by other influential contemporary thinkers such as Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault. At the same time, however, modern philosophy is marked by a certain distrust of happiness, deeming it a subject to egotistic, frivolous, or distracting for serious ethical thought. At least since Kant’s exclusion of the desire for happiness from the sphere of morality, to some the very call to reflect upon happy life is an indication of bad taste, privilege or otherworldliness. Who has time to reflect on happiness when there are so much other, more urgent topics that demand our attention, such as climate change, racism, sexism, pandemics and refugee-crises? In The Human Condition, for instance, Hannah Arendt demotes ‘the pursuit of happiness’ to the activities corresponding to the biological processes of the human life (labor), distinguishing it from the higher concerns of ‘work’ and ‘action’. In addition, a mounting body of literature argues that happiness has become a commodity and its pursuit forms an obstacle rather than an instrument to the emancipatory efforts of philosophy. The goal of this special issue is to critically assess and discuss the philosophical potential of happiness in contemporary continental thought. What is the place of happiness within contemporary continental philosophy? How do various continental thinkers approach and evaluate the subject? What is its relation to truth and to the various domains of thought, such as ontology, ethics and politics?

Authors publishing their articles in the special issue will benefit from:

· transparent, comprehensive and fast peer review,

· efficient route to fast-track publication and full advantage of De Gruyter’s e-technology.

Because Open Philosophy is published under an Open Access model, as a rule, publication costs should be covered by so called Article Publishing Charges (APC), paid by authors, their affiliated institutions, funders or sponsors.

Authors without access to publishing funds are encouraged to discuss potential discounts or waivers with Managing Editor of the journal Katarzyna Tempczyk (katarzyna.tempczyk@degruyter.com) before submitting their manuscripts.

HOW TO SUBMIT
Submissions will be collected until January 31, 2024.

To submit an article for the special issue of Open Philosophy, authors are asked to access the online submission system at: http://www.editorialmanager.com/opphil/

Please choose as article type: Happiness

Before submission the authors should carefully read over the Instruction for Authors, available at: https://www.degruyter.com/publication/journal_key/OPPHIL/downloadAsset/OPPHIL_Instruction%20for%20Authors.pdf

All contributions will undergo critical review before being accepted for publication.

Further questions about this thematic issue can be addressed to Ype de Boer atype.deboer@ru.nl. In case of technical problems with submission, please contact AssistantManagingEditor@degruyter.com

Find us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DGOpenPhilosophy

Call for Papers: Filosofía, Política y Verdad (2023)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

17 July 2023

Call for Papers 3 (1): FILOSOFÍA, POLÍTICA Y VERDAD
Coordinadores: Iván Torres Apablaza y Silvana Vignale
Latin American Journal of Humanities and Educational Divergences 
Recepción de trabajos: 30 de noviembre de 2023
https://revistas.educaidscientific.com/index.php/lajhed/announcement

PDF of Call for Papers

Latin American Journal of Humanities and Educational Divergences es una publicación semestral de acceso abierto, editado por Educa ID Scientific (Perú), que tiene como objetivo la difusión de investigaciones en el ámbito de las humanidades y la educación que problematicen tópicos críticos sobre la sociedad contemporánea en orden a contribuir a su transformación justa, simétrica y digna. La revista recibe trabajos inéditos y originales de carácter científico, especialmente artículos científicos (investigaciones cualitativas y/o cuantitativas, así como reflexiones conceptuales), reseñas de libros y eventualmente entrevistas.

Para la convocatoria del primer volumen de su tercer número la Revista organiza un dossier sobre “Filosofía, Política y Verdad” teniendo como editores invitados a los investigadores Iván Torres Apablaza (Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Filosofía, Comité de Ética de la Investigación en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades) y Silvana Vignale (Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales, Centro Científico Tecnológico, CONICET Mendoza).

La historia de la relación entre filosofía, política y verdad, es aquella de una disposición polémica. Así lo atestigua la escena inaugural de la filosofía, donde el discurso de verdad se enfrenta a la verdad de la política. La tradición de pensamiento de dicho acontecimiento origina desde entonces una ambivalencia respecto a la política: la verdad funcionará, unas veces, como apoyo a la función de gobierno;

mientras en otra, como la ética de un decir verdadero respecto al poder. En otras palabras, como discurso verdadero de la política, o como ejercicio parresiasta de enfrentar al poder con el coraje de la verdad. Pese a esto, ambas actitudes nos muestran la copertenencia entre filosofía y política, no por el contenido específico de la verdad puesta en juego, sino por su funcionamiento, sus articulaciones, por aquello que moviliza o hace circular –en cuanto todo régimen de verdad compromete a los individuos en sus decisiones y formas de obediencia–. A esta luz, la verdad será siempre una posición de fuerza, vale decir, una interpretación que exhibe efectos de poder y un poder que produce discursos de verdad. Algunas contribuciones podrían estar interesadas en mostrar el anudamiento de los discursos de verdad y de las prácticas políticas en torno a los procesos de subjetivación, en cuanto posible genealogía de los sujetos que somos en la actualidad. Es una sujeción o desujeción de una política de la verdad la que genera efectos de subjetivación que aumentan o disminuyen los grados de libertad en torno a la posibilidad de constituirse como sujetos. Dicho de otro modo, ¿qué efectos subjetivos producen los diferentes anudamientos entre política y verdad?, ¿qué correlaciones presentes en las relaciones entre saber-poder han determinado las formas de subjetivación hasta nuestro tiempo? De allí que en ese territorio que se abre entre política y verdad, sea necesario pensar en las prácticas de libertad, aunque también en las formas de obediencia, sobre las que todavía descansan hoy –desde aquella escena inaugural– nuestras servidumbres voluntarias. Esto último puede invitar al trabajo en torno a un análisis situado en una historia del presente o diagnóstico a partir de coyunturas históricas precisas en las últimas décadas, como las formas en que el liberalismo y posteriormente el neoliberalismo han expresado aquellas relaciones, y que actualmente se manifiesta en la aparición de las denominadas “nuevas derechas” y en la crisis como modelo de gobierno y síntoma de la época. En este sentido se hace necesario actualizar las formas en que filosofía, política y verdad se conjugan en un contexto de desafíos tecnológicos y científicos, así como del propio pensamiento crítico que se ha replegado defensivamente en caracterizar los dispositivos de poder que nos gobiernan, sin imaginación para ofrecer alternativas novedosas de otros mundos posibles.

Provisto de estas claves de lectura, el siguiente dossier convoca al análisis y a discusiones que permitan pensar las formas contemporáneas de relación entre filosofía, política y verdad. Sobre todo, teniendo en cuenta la crisis actual de estas formas discursivas, en un contexto de desvalorización y descrédito de la política, de indeterminación de los discursos verdaderos y del repliegue académico del discurso filosófico. En la perspectiva de este monográfico, se estima que un trabajo de pensamiento sobre estos problemas, podría arrojar nuevas perspectivas acerca del papel de la filosofía en el umbral de un cambio epocal que exige pensar las determinaciones éticas y políticas de la verdad. Los ejes de problematización que organizan esta convocatoria, son los siguientes:

• Historia política de la verdad
• Pliegues y tensiones entre ética, política y verdad
• Prácticas de gobierno y discursos de verdad
• Sujetos políticos y regímenes de verdad
• Imaginación política y verdad
• Relaciones entre verdad y política en nuestro presente

El plazo límite de envío de las contribuciones es el 30 de noviembre de 2023. Los envíos deben realizarse por medio del OJS de la revista:

https://revistas.educaidscientific.com/index.php/lajhed/about/submissions

Los artículos deben usar el formato de citación APA (séptima edición), deben ser inéditos y no deben ser enviados en simultáneo a otra revista. La extensión mínima son 12 cuartillas y la máxima 25; en ambos se debe enviar un archivo en .docx o .doc en formato carta, márgenes 2.5 e interlineado 1.5. Para el caso de las reseñas, la extensión mínima es de 5 cuartillas y la máxima de 10 con los mismos requisitos formales que los artículos. Para más detalle se puede revisar las normas para autores: https://revistas.educaidscientific.com/index.php/lajhed/author-guidelines. Cualquier consulta puede escribirse al director de la revista, Jesús Ayala-Colqui: jesus.ayalacolqui@educaidscientific.com

Xiao Han, Disciplinary Power Matters: Rethinking Governmentality and Policy Enactment Studies in China (2023)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

16 July 2023

Xiao Han (2023) Disciplinary Power Matters: Rethinking Governmentality and Policy Enactment Studies in China, Journal of Education Policy, 38:3, 408-431,
DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2021.2014570

ABSTRACT
Besides Foucault’s own focus on liberal contexts, the relatively limited application of his thoughts in illiberal countries may also result from the misunderstanding of power. The traditional juridico-discursive model interprets power as a possession wielded by one group over others, merely functioning as something forbidden. Thus, policy analysts risk falling into the trap of ‘naive optimism or pessimism’ – by overemphasizing either the secondary adjustment or strict sovereign control. Returning to Foucault’s observation of the ‘sovereignty–discipline–government society’ triangle, this study examines how discipline establishes the linkage between sovereign will and self-government in both (neo)liberal and illiberal nations, aiming to: first, theoretically clarify how modern forms of power in different political systems overlap and co-operate with each other, thus justifying the expansion of Foucault’s ideas into illiberal contexts; second, demonstrate the interpenetration of agency and constraints through empirical exploration of Chinese transnational higher education policy enactment, and by so doing to avoid the centralization circle or policy experimentation hypothesis framework; third, highlight the importance of discipline in realizing the ‘tricky combination’ of totalization and individualization through producing capable subjects for authoritarian objective in modern societies.

KEYWORDS: Discipline, Foucault, power, governmentality, policy enactment

Archive: Foucault in Chinese Educational Studies, Special Issue (2019)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

15 July 2023

Foucault in Chinese Educational Studies, Special Issue. Knowledge Cultures, vol. 7, no. 1, March 2019

Foucault In Chinese Educational Studies
Michael A. Peters

Aesthetic Education: toward a possible aesthetic life
Xu Jinyuan

Using Foucault’s theory of technologies of the self to examine the learning process in China’s math classrooms
Chi Xiao

Governmentality and private tutoring in China
Hao Feng

A Foucauldian perspective: exploring governmentality and the self-development of China’s shadow education sector
Li Cuicui

Discipline under China’s College Entrance Examination System reflected in the documentary senior year–based on Foucault’s micro-power theory
Zhang Shiqin

From discipline to communication: reflections on the reconstruction of teacher–student relationships
Hao Donghui

How Foucault’s thoughts affect pedagogy research in China
Qi Shan

Vanessa Lemm, and Miguel Vatter (eds) The Viral Politics of Covid-19 Nature, Home, and Planetary Health (2022)

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

14 July 2023

Vanessa Lemm, and Miguel Vatter (eds) The Viral Politics of Covid-19 Nature, Home, and Planetary Health. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

About this book
This book critically examines the COVID-19 pandemic and its legal and biological governance using a multidisciplinary approach. The perspectives reflected in this volume investigate the imbrications between technosphere and biosphere at social, economic, and political levels. The biolegal dimensions of our evolving understanding of “home” are analysed as the common thread linking the problem of zoonotic diseases and planetary health with that of geopolitics, biosecurity, bioeconomics and biophilosophies of the plant-animal-human interface. In doing so, the contributions collectively highlight the complexities, challenges, and opportunities for humanity, opening new perspectives on how to inhabit our shared planet. This volume will broadly appeal to scholars and students in anthropology, cultural and media studies, history, philosophy, political science and public health, sociology and science and technology studies.

Archive: Chen, Z., & Wang, C. Y. The Discipline of Happiness: The Foucauldian Use of the “Positive Energy” Discourse in China’s Ideological Works (2019).

Clare O'Farrell

no comments

13 July 2023

Chen, Z., & Wang, C. Y. (2019). The Discipline of Happiness: The Foucauldian Use of the “Positive Energy” Discourse in China’s Ideological Works. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 48(2), 201–225.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1868102619899409

Abstract
One important question about ideological works in China concerns the tension between mobilisation (encouraging public expression) and control (limiting public expression). Recently Xi Jinping’s administration has doubled down on both strategies. To study the rationale of this seemingly self-contradictory move, the authors examine the recently prominent ideological discourse of “positive energy.” Through a combination of online ethnography and discourse analysis using Foucauldian methods, we find that the discourse borrows and evolves from previous ideological works, but most importantly and distinguishably features a more dispersive, rather than centralised power structure. It penetrates popular culture and private lives, and by doing so disciplines people’s subjectivities, rather than only aiming at top-down persuasion or control. The logic of “positive energy” produces self-disciplined docile subjects, and quietly resolves the tension between mobilisation and control by having subjects internalise the interests of the state as their own good.

Call for proposals: World Congress. Foucault: 40 years after (2023-2024)

Clare O'Farrell

1 comment

12 July 2023

WORLD CONGRESS
Foucault: 40 years after

Call for proposals

PDF World Congress F40 Call for proposals

1. Introduction

Michel Foucault died in Paris on 25 June 1984 at the age of 57. Forty years after his death, his work has continued to attract scholars and the general public. The number of books, as well as the doctoral theses, seminars, and conferences focused on his thought around the world is immense. Due to the posthumous publication of his lectures and unpublished material, Foucault’s international impact has continued increase in the last four decades. In fact, Foucault has now become a fundamental academic reference for any research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The global impact of his work, as well as the increasing global proliferation of Foucauldian groups and networks justifies giving special significance to the forthcoming commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of his death. This is why we would like to organise a world-wide event dedicated to analysing the last four decades of intense reception of Foucault’s work but also to exploring the current repercussion of his thought. To do so, we would like to invite all researchers working on Michel Foucault’s thought to join the project of holding a World Congress in 2024 that will encompass and examine all aspects of the French philosopher’s intellectual production.

2. Methodology

The global impact of Foucault’s work has reached such an extent that it would be impossible to bring together in one place the different groups working on his philosophy. Therefore, we propose to organise a World Congress that will be held in different venues without losing a sense of unity in terms of format and themes. To make this possible, we propose to constitute an International Scientific Committee (ISC), which will receive the activity proposals from different institutions/groups. These proposals will be considered based on a set of general criteria which will establish the minimum conditions to be met. Once the proposal has been accepted, the organisers of the specific event will receive the World Congress logo, which will include the name of the city where the activity in question takes place. Information about all activities will be gathered on and disseminated through the World Congress website and social networks. This will give an extraordinary visibility to all the events. Each local activity will become part of an unprecedented global initiative which will both highlight the relevance that Michel Foucault’s thought has attained and contribute to widening the audience of readers and researchers on a global scale.

3. Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

- Activities should focus on Foucault’s thought and be inspired by the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his death;
- The ISC will make sure that the topics of the activities do not overlap;
- Activities should be scheduled to be carried out throughout 2024. However, activities should take place between May and June 2024 if possible;
- Activities may be organised as seminars, workshops, colloquia, or conferences, which could be held in one day or more. One-person activities are excluded;
- Online streaming of each activity is highly recommended. Event videos will be gathered on the World Congress website;
- Each activity accepted by the ISC should use the World Congress logo (at the top of this document) for promotional purposes. The name of the city in which the event in question takes place will be included on the side of the logo as shown in the example below;

Coordination of different activities that take place in the same venue is recommended. Such coordination should not affect the topic or the diversity of the participants.
Activities at different venues in the same country are allowed.

4. International Scientific Committee Members

Daniele Lorenzini (USA)
Edgardo Castro (Argentina)
Clare O’Farrell (Australia)
Ernani Chaves (Brazil)
Santiago Castro-Gómez (Colombia)
Adán Salinas (Chile)
Sverre Raffnsøe (Denmark)
Rodrigo Castro (Spain – Coordinator)
Bernard Harcourt (USA)
Frédéric Gros (France)
Philippe Sabot (France)
Elisabetta Basso (Italy)
Yasuyuki Shinkai (Japan)
Alberto Constante (Mexico)
Jesús Ayala-Colqui (Peru)
Mateusz Ozimek (Poland)
Eugenia Vilela (Portugal)
Vanessa Lemm (UK)
Achille Mbembe (South Africa)

5. Submission of proposals

Proposals for activities should be sent to: foucault40after@gmail.com to the Coordinator of the International Scientific Committee: Prof. Rodrigo Castro. Information about activities should include:

a) The title of the activity
b) A short description (5 lines)
c) The city and country in which the activity is to be held
d) The dates on which the activity is to be carried out
e) The name of the coordinator or person in charge of the activity and their e-mail address.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 29th of September 2023.
Decisions on proposals will be communicated in October 2023.