1. trancher also means _to decide_ (in a declarative and performative way). eg. a king or a judge decides.
2. moreover it means _to contrast_
>Messsage du 02/12/2001 13:02
>De : <foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>A : <foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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>Objet : RE: foucault-digest V2 #530
>
> >The quote is from
> >Foucault, Michel. (1984). Nietzsche, genealogy and history. In Paul
> >Rabinow (Ed.), the Foucault Reader. (pp. 76-100). New York: Pantheon
> >Books and specifically, page 88, where F is talking about effective
> >history. Perhaps Stuart Elden can provide a French original? Thanks
> >Stuart
>
> C'est que le savoir n'est pas fait pour comprendre, il est fait pour
> trancher.
>
> Dits et ecrits, Vol II, p. 148
>
> So the word in question is trancher, not couper. Trancher could mean cut in
> a violent sense - slitting a throat, cutting off a head [but in Foucault's
> phrase we need to cut - couper - the king's head off]. But trancher also has
> a sense of bringing to an end, concluding; tranche is a slice.
>
> But if read in the context of the discussion, it seems obvious that it is
> related to the discussion of discontinuity and the breaking up of seemingly
> seamless passages of history, the refusal of a solid centre around which
> history resolves.
>
> Hope that's useful in contextualising the remark.
>
> Stuart
>
>