Foucault and Phenomenology

Dear listmembers:

Over the last weekend, I just read the interview with Foucault which is
reprinted in Michael Kelly's "Critique and Power: Recasting the
Foucault/Habermas Debate". There, Foucault makes a statement of how his
thoughts developed from phenomenology and how a reading of Nietzsche made
him move away from that. I have to admit that, coming from the field of
International Relations rather than philosophy or social theory, my
understanding of phenomenology is rather limited. As Foucault writes, the
difference lies in the conceptualizations of "reason". Am I correct that
what is implied here is a similarity in the ontological dimension, whereas
what I would call the social constructivism of phenomenology does not go far
enough as far as its epistemology is concerned? I would appreciate any
suggestions that could shed some light on this question; maybe there already
is something out there which does deal with the relationship of
phenomenology and poststructuralism.

Thanks,
Thomas


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Thomas Diez
Mannheim Centre for European Social Research
Mannheimer Zentrum fuer Europaeische Sozialforschung
Steubenstrasse
D-68131 Mannheim
Tel. ++49-(0)621-292-8465
Fax. ++49-(0)621-292-8435
Thomas.Diez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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