Re: Foucault/Frankfurt School quote

> In a message dated 11/3/00 8:02:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> divababygirl@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> > I seem to remember reading somewhere, I believe "The
> > Foucault Reader", that Foucault, late is his life and
> > career, made the statement that he wished that he had
> > actually been aware of the Frankfurt School and it's
> > adjuncts during his development. I think that unless
> > it was in one of his latest works, he could not have
> > cited Benjamin as he had not been exposed to that
> > thread of Critical Theory.
> >
>
> Foucault stated that he was immersed in the Frankfurt School and
> said about
> that, that he had to do something else or he would have worked in
> Critical
> Theory all of his life. He later said that he actually believed
> that he had
> taken the Critical Theory to a higher level!
>
> Vunch

This is misleading, to say the least. Rana has not got it 'backward'. As Tom
points out, the source of the reference is a 1983 interview with G. Raulet,
originally published as 'Structuralisme et poststructuralisme', in Telos,
vol XVI, no 55, printemps 1983, pp 195-211 (reprinted in Dits et ecrits, vol
IV, 431-457). There is a translation in Foucault Live, "How Much Does It
Cost For Reason To Tell The Truth"; and one in Essential Works Vol II,
"Structuralism and Poststructuralism". Given that there are two translations
available (both of which, here at least, are relatively close to the
original), and that Tom's translation of a German translation retains the
essential points, I will only add that the remark is made in the context of
a discussion of Foucault's intellectual development. He remarks that the
Frankfurt school was not mentioned by his teachers. The interviewer thinks
this astonishing, and Foucault goes on to remark that it raises interesting
issues about how related schools of thought can be so apart (he means his
intellectual upbringing in French history of science, i.e. Canguilhem and
Bachelard above all).

Stuart


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