On Jul 9, 9:19pm, Hagen Finley wrote:
> Subject: Re: _ROM_ -- hunger for self-transformation
> I am just getting caught up on this thread, and although I have
> found the comments interesting it seems to me that there is at least a risk
> of over- analysis.
> When Foucault offers
>
> "I consider myself more an experimenter than a theorist; I
> don't develop deductive systems to apply uniformly in different fields of
> research. When I write, I do it above all to change myself and not to
> think the same thing as before."
>
> it doesn't seem to me that that is an invitation to investigate the
> implications of how this kind of 'experimentation' and or 'change' leads to
> resistance and politics in general. Grant you there is probably no harm in
> such inquiry, however, what impressed me was the non-rational /
non-analytic
> flavor of his comment. He states quite clearly that he does not seek
> deductive systems or strategies in his work. Instead he probes not really
> knowing where he will end up or how those conclusions will affect his
> understanding of himself and his world. It seems to me that the desire "not
> to think the same thing as before" is motivated by the simple pleasure of
> discovery versus an implicit political agenda or social duty.
> I'm sure Foucault has a political agenda which implies certain
> obligations, but they don't necessarily permeate every dimension of his
life.
> Hagen Finley
> Berkeley, CA
>
>-- End of excerpt from Hagen Finley
This issue concerns me as well, espcially when it comes to the "queering" of
Foucault. What happens when the discovery is overshadowed by a political
agennda or the positing of social and ethical obligations?
Penelope Ironstone-Catterall
York University
School of Social & Political Thought
pirons@xxxxxxxx
------------------
> Subject: Re: _ROM_ -- hunger for self-transformation
> I am just getting caught up on this thread, and although I have
> found the comments interesting it seems to me that there is at least a risk
> of over- analysis.
> When Foucault offers
>
> "I consider myself more an experimenter than a theorist; I
> don't develop deductive systems to apply uniformly in different fields of
> research. When I write, I do it above all to change myself and not to
> think the same thing as before."
>
> it doesn't seem to me that that is an invitation to investigate the
> implications of how this kind of 'experimentation' and or 'change' leads to
> resistance and politics in general. Grant you there is probably no harm in
> such inquiry, however, what impressed me was the non-rational /
non-analytic
> flavor of his comment. He states quite clearly that he does not seek
> deductive systems or strategies in his work. Instead he probes not really
> knowing where he will end up or how those conclusions will affect his
> understanding of himself and his world. It seems to me that the desire "not
> to think the same thing as before" is motivated by the simple pleasure of
> discovery versus an implicit political agenda or social duty.
> I'm sure Foucault has a political agenda which implies certain
> obligations, but they don't necessarily permeate every dimension of his
life.
> Hagen Finley
> Berkeley, CA
>
>-- End of excerpt from Hagen Finley
This issue concerns me as well, espcially when it comes to the "queering" of
Foucault. What happens when the discovery is overshadowed by a political
agennda or the positing of social and ethical obligations?
Penelope Ironstone-Catterall
York University
School of Social & Political Thought
pirons@xxxxxxxx
------------------