> Thanks for your careful response. You make
> some good points and I think you know your
> Foucault. You are right that we likely agree
> on much. I would only take issue with your
> (general) points concerning subjectivity.
Thanks, Blaine, but I suspect I have only the
gist so far. I have yet to really study his work.
However, I will say that the more and more I
read of him, the more and more I come to
an understanding which satisfies and lays to
rest all of my complaints. I'm really quite happy
that he did a lot of interviews and wrote a few
short pieces which clarified his previous works
before he died. I'm excited about reading a
biography of him, although I understand that
the biographers aren't giving him a really great
reputation.....my response to this is "so what?"
As for subjectivity, I do think that I am begining
to agree with you that I was a bit off on my
understanding of this point. This:
> Didn't Foucault say that genealogies are a
> "history of the present"?
point particularly brought me a clearer understanding
of the entire idea of a genealogy, which I had
previously been a bit confused about. but the words
"history of the present" make a great deal of sense,
as opposed to being paradoxical, when I thought of
a genealogy as a "history of the self."
> I'm not trying to be smug here -- it's hard to express
> true interest via email, as opposed to sarcasm! --
Oh, hey! Don't worry, I'm a veteran nethead from way
back. I'm well aware of the nets inability to capture
the more subtle or sarcastic forms of expression. In
fact, I frequently have to remind people that if they
were having a personal conversation with me they'd
be able to see that I love conversation in such a way
that I am always having fun with it. It ceaselessly
amazes me in such a way that I most often have a
wry smile on my face. It's just too much of a trip to
deny the humor. Of course, this can halt some folks
when they interpret this as *smug*, but after a few
moments of conversation they usually get a full
understanding that the wry smile applies to me too:
I'm always showing amusement with my own
silliness and inaccuracy, and ambiguity. Language
can certainly get very playful...I only wish more of
my profs understood this with me! (Nazies I tell
you! ;) (I usually win them over though, after all,
we're paying them to play rough aren't we?)
> Thanks again for your points, Eric. Love to hear
> more. Hope you are able to de-stress soon....
Well, the stress is starting to fade into an enjoyment
of the writing process. (Whistle while you work...)
but no matter waht I do I seem to always create a
situation of stress, almost as if using it as a
motivation. I am my own saboteur! But then...I
don't think I'm saying something any other college
student wouldn't be familiar with....that is, if they
try keeping an Aristotelian balance by including
a social life in their day to day existence! ;)
(I never thought I'd mention Aristotle _and_ Foucault
in the same text, but there it was!)
> And I'm not grumpy anymore! :)
That's "super bon bon" (my recent fun term...comes
>from Soul Coughing's most recent album, it has a
lot more meaning if the music is invoked by it, though,
I guess. For me it means I'm sincerely ecstatic.)
Hmmmm, my aren't I gabby? Well, we're seemingly
ressurecting a dead horse here, aren't we? Perhaps
this will sort out the serious and the not so serious
>from the sincere stayers? (350 subscribers, and I'm
gabbing! If this doesn't affirm David Pekerow's
encouraging statement that we should talk and have
fun about it, I don't know what would ;)
Cheers to both of you, David and Blaine!
PS: To the few that have introduced new interests
for talking about Foucault, I sincerely hope we get
enough interest going that we open up dialogues
ther too, its just that I'm no expert on Foucault, and
some of your areas of interest were foreign to me.
I think, though, that if we keep this up you'll find
folks that share your "tack". Cheers to you all, also!
(In the event that we find ourselves all agreeing on
Foucault, I'll just drop a few controversial remarks.
I'm not leaving the list, and that oughta get things
going even more!)
GABGABGAB (read: late night 1/2 of 20 pages done
in one foul swoop finals burnout)
Eric Nelson Shook mailto:enshook@xxxxxxxxxxx
Student of Philosophy & Cultural Anthropology
"Alienation hasn't enough sense to deliberate
over circumstances. It has no sense of humor."
> some good points and I think you know your
> Foucault. You are right that we likely agree
> on much. I would only take issue with your
> (general) points concerning subjectivity.
Thanks, Blaine, but I suspect I have only the
gist so far. I have yet to really study his work.
However, I will say that the more and more I
read of him, the more and more I come to
an understanding which satisfies and lays to
rest all of my complaints. I'm really quite happy
that he did a lot of interviews and wrote a few
short pieces which clarified his previous works
before he died. I'm excited about reading a
biography of him, although I understand that
the biographers aren't giving him a really great
reputation.....my response to this is "so what?"
As for subjectivity, I do think that I am begining
to agree with you that I was a bit off on my
understanding of this point. This:
> Didn't Foucault say that genealogies are a
> "history of the present"?
point particularly brought me a clearer understanding
of the entire idea of a genealogy, which I had
previously been a bit confused about. but the words
"history of the present" make a great deal of sense,
as opposed to being paradoxical, when I thought of
a genealogy as a "history of the self."
> I'm not trying to be smug here -- it's hard to express
> true interest via email, as opposed to sarcasm! --
Oh, hey! Don't worry, I'm a veteran nethead from way
back. I'm well aware of the nets inability to capture
the more subtle or sarcastic forms of expression. In
fact, I frequently have to remind people that if they
were having a personal conversation with me they'd
be able to see that I love conversation in such a way
that I am always having fun with it. It ceaselessly
amazes me in such a way that I most often have a
wry smile on my face. It's just too much of a trip to
deny the humor. Of course, this can halt some folks
when they interpret this as *smug*, but after a few
moments of conversation they usually get a full
understanding that the wry smile applies to me too:
I'm always showing amusement with my own
silliness and inaccuracy, and ambiguity. Language
can certainly get very playful...I only wish more of
my profs understood this with me! (Nazies I tell
you! ;) (I usually win them over though, after all,
we're paying them to play rough aren't we?)
> Thanks again for your points, Eric. Love to hear
> more. Hope you are able to de-stress soon....
Well, the stress is starting to fade into an enjoyment
of the writing process. (Whistle while you work...)
but no matter waht I do I seem to always create a
situation of stress, almost as if using it as a
motivation. I am my own saboteur! But then...I
don't think I'm saying something any other college
student wouldn't be familiar with....that is, if they
try keeping an Aristotelian balance by including
a social life in their day to day existence! ;)
(I never thought I'd mention Aristotle _and_ Foucault
in the same text, but there it was!)
> And I'm not grumpy anymore! :)
That's "super bon bon" (my recent fun term...comes
>from Soul Coughing's most recent album, it has a
lot more meaning if the music is invoked by it, though,
I guess. For me it means I'm sincerely ecstatic.)
Hmmmm, my aren't I gabby? Well, we're seemingly
ressurecting a dead horse here, aren't we? Perhaps
this will sort out the serious and the not so serious
>from the sincere stayers? (350 subscribers, and I'm
gabbing! If this doesn't affirm David Pekerow's
encouraging statement that we should talk and have
fun about it, I don't know what would ;)
Cheers to both of you, David and Blaine!
PS: To the few that have introduced new interests
for talking about Foucault, I sincerely hope we get
enough interest going that we open up dialogues
ther too, its just that I'm no expert on Foucault, and
some of your areas of interest were foreign to me.
I think, though, that if we keep this up you'll find
folks that share your "tack". Cheers to you all, also!
(In the event that we find ourselves all agreeing on
Foucault, I'll just drop a few controversial remarks.
I'm not leaving the list, and that oughta get things
going even more!)
GABGABGAB (read: late night 1/2 of 20 pages done
in one foul swoop finals burnout)
Eric Nelson Shook mailto:enshook@xxxxxxxxxxx
Student of Philosophy & Cultural Anthropology
"Alienation hasn't enough sense to deliberate
over circumstances. It has no sense of humor."