>Does anyone know where I can find an exposition and/or criticisms of Foucault's
>relativism and the relationship between truth and power.
>I believe there is a book called "Power/Knowledge", edited by Colin Gordon,
>but I can't get a copy of it in the library or the bookshops.
I have a copy of _Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972
- 1977_ on my shelf next to me. It's a restrospective attempt to shore up
Foucault's corpus within the boundaries of his later interests. The book is
edited by Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980). I bought it off the
shelf of my university bookstore a couple of years ago, so I don't think
it's out of print. Check _Books in Print_ at your campus bookstore. It
includes an interview titled "Truth and Power" that I think would interest
you. Foucault concludes the interview by listing a series of assertions on
truth and power that include:
"'Truth' is to be understood as a system of ordered procedures for the
production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements.
'Truth is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce
and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend
it. A 'regime' of truth" (133).
He concludes by noting the importance of Nietzsche on this score. With that
in mind, you may also want to look at Alexander Nehamas' _Nietzsche: Life as
Literature_ and his second chapter on "Untruth as a Condition of Life." If
you're looking to refute charges of relativism against Foucault, this should
give you some background to work with.
You may also want to look at Foucault's central tenet that "power and
knowledge directly imply one another" (_Discipline & Punish_ 27).
Have fun. Mike O'Driscoll
------------------
>relativism and the relationship between truth and power.
>I believe there is a book called "Power/Knowledge", edited by Colin Gordon,
>but I can't get a copy of it in the library or the bookshops.
I have a copy of _Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972
- 1977_ on my shelf next to me. It's a restrospective attempt to shore up
Foucault's corpus within the boundaries of his later interests. The book is
edited by Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980). I bought it off the
shelf of my university bookstore a couple of years ago, so I don't think
it's out of print. Check _Books in Print_ at your campus bookstore. It
includes an interview titled "Truth and Power" that I think would interest
you. Foucault concludes the interview by listing a series of assertions on
truth and power that include:
"'Truth' is to be understood as a system of ordered procedures for the
production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements.
'Truth is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce
and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend
it. A 'regime' of truth" (133).
He concludes by noting the importance of Nietzsche on this score. With that
in mind, you may also want to look at Alexander Nehamas' _Nietzsche: Life as
Literature_ and his second chapter on "Untruth as a Condition of Life." If
you're looking to refute charges of relativism against Foucault, this should
give you some background to work with.
You may also want to look at Foucault's central tenet that "power and
knowledge directly imply one another" (_Discipline & Punish_ 27).
Have fun. Mike O'Driscoll
------------------