I have occasionally heard the suggestion that Foucault is a hyped up
version of Callicles from Plato's dialogue, Gorgias. Callicles argues
that it is the natural order for the strong to rule over the weak, that
morality is a fiction employed by rulers to keep underlings in line.
Certainly, in the Platonic context, Callicles is a straw man--- a raw,
unsophisticated proponent, perhaps laying bare the "truth" behind
sophistry (as Plato might see it).
But again, this only works in the world of these sorts of fixed, Platonic
oppositions. To the extent Nietzsche recapitulates his own
contra-Platonic oppositions, from the flip side, well, he does to some
extent fall into this trap, but not consistently. I hear a critique,
very faintly taking place in the background, by Foucault, of the
excessive heroics, narcissism, and amoral certitudes constructed by the
worst readings of Nietzsche. Isn't F somewhat at war with the Callicles
reading of Nietzsche? ( I have trouble imaging a Foucaultian Superman,
for that matter.)
version of Callicles from Plato's dialogue, Gorgias. Callicles argues
that it is the natural order for the strong to rule over the weak, that
morality is a fiction employed by rulers to keep underlings in line.
Certainly, in the Platonic context, Callicles is a straw man--- a raw,
unsophisticated proponent, perhaps laying bare the "truth" behind
sophistry (as Plato might see it).
But again, this only works in the world of these sorts of fixed, Platonic
oppositions. To the extent Nietzsche recapitulates his own
contra-Platonic oppositions, from the flip side, well, he does to some
extent fall into this trap, but not consistently. I hear a critique,
very faintly taking place in the background, by Foucault, of the
excessive heroics, narcissism, and amoral certitudes constructed by the
worst readings of Nietzsche. Isn't F somewhat at war with the Callicles
reading of Nietzsche? ( I have trouble imaging a Foucaultian Superman,
for that matter.)