Lubna Nadvi wrote:
>
> If one has to give serious thought to whats going on around the world,
> people "are" killing each other... in civil wars, genocide, torture,
> oppression and so on. Is this an indication of their unnatural
> behaviour (which is innate), or them expressing something quite natural
> (anger, fear, misunderstanding, hate etc) in an unnatural way.
>
> Foucault would probably have argued for the latter.
No, I don't think so. I can't really see that Foucault would have got
himself into the position of trying to resolve such a dilemma. More
likely Foucault would have studied the emergence and operation of the
concept of 'natural' in specific contexts suspending (or at least not
stating) any actual view about the ultimate truth or falsity of what he
was studying. For this reason I have had some difficulty with this
whole line of discussion. I just don't see it as being Foucauldian.
Best wishes
Murray
=================================
Murray K. Simpson,
Department of Social Work,
Frankland Building,
The University of Dundee,
Dundee DD1 4HN,
United Kingdom.
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/SocialWork/mainpage.htm
tel. 01382 344948
fax. 01382 221512
e.mail m.k.simpson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> If one has to give serious thought to whats going on around the world,
> people "are" killing each other... in civil wars, genocide, torture,
> oppression and so on. Is this an indication of their unnatural
> behaviour (which is innate), or them expressing something quite natural
> (anger, fear, misunderstanding, hate etc) in an unnatural way.
>
> Foucault would probably have argued for the latter.
No, I don't think so. I can't really see that Foucault would have got
himself into the position of trying to resolve such a dilemma. More
likely Foucault would have studied the emergence and operation of the
concept of 'natural' in specific contexts suspending (or at least not
stating) any actual view about the ultimate truth or falsity of what he
was studying. For this reason I have had some difficulty with this
whole line of discussion. I just don't see it as being Foucauldian.
Best wishes
Murray
=================================
Murray K. Simpson,
Department of Social Work,
Frankland Building,
The University of Dundee,
Dundee DD1 4HN,
United Kingdom.
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/SocialWork/mainpage.htm
tel. 01382 344948
fax. 01382 221512
e.mail m.k.simpson@xxxxxxxxxxxx