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From: jlnich1@xxxxxxxxxxx (J.L. Nicholas)
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Date: Sun, 8 Feb 1998 16:51:05 -0400
>In re Marcuse: Perhaps ironically, here I think you yourself are not giving
>F enough space in his difference from M's Freuodo-Marxism. I know F says
>somewhere that, of course, repression (in the political sense at least)
>still exists. But his difference from Marcuse would be in the notion of
>discourse, and our "incitement" to it. So his notion of power
>(pouvoir-savoir) is more "productive" than M's, who even in "desublimation"
>is still presupposing repression, but now the displacement, of desire.
>
Actually, Foucault and Marcuse are not that far apart on a notion of power.
Foucault leaves little to no room for an aspect of repression whereas
Marcuse's notion of repression is very productive: power represses by
PRODUCING new interests for us. This ties into Marcuse's critique of
Technology, because , through technology, the capitalist system produces
ever more interests and desires for us. THe question to ask, then, is to
what extent does Foucault secretly rely on a notion of repression. I think
this leads to the further question about whether people have any "real"
interests, - at least, this is where this question has led me, and I am in
the process of trying to figure out what real interests would be, if we had
them, while being open to Foucault's constructivism.
Jeffery
