Re: Death of Man/Anthropology

>In any case, Foucault's development of the figure of Man is a figure
>of knowledge, discourse, and human science passion; his configurations
>of selfhood, on the other hand, have more to do with the ways in which
>power and ethical relations become enfolded into a person's concept of
>themself. I know this is a simplification, but I'm not convinced that
>"anthropology" is the bridge that connects OT and later work, or that
>for Foucault, there is any evolution of "Man" beyond OT.
>
>Stephen Katz,
>Trent University.

Well, few commentators, including Foucault, acknowledge that there was not
a genesis between his earlier works and later period, and because of the
mutual constitution of "man" by discourse (truth), power, and ethics (what
Foucault in his late work referred to as the three axis), it is impossible
to sever a "man" who is the object of science and a man who is the ethical
(aesthetic) self as you say -- two different creatures. Clearly, the OT
belongs to an earlier focus on discourse and discursive formations. We
don't hear much about these in the late Foucault. My point is that the
focus has changed and Foucault does not really explain in depth how these
different perspectives, or let's call them forces of self-constitution,
relate to each other.


------------------

Partial thread listing: