John:
You are making an interesting contribution to this list by posing apparently
simple questions that
help get people focussed on "Foucault 101" again. So thanks for that.
By way of a quick answer to:
> Did Foucault think others were capable of using his methods?
A) On the one hand
Foucault stated "I write for users, not for readers" (D+E II, 524), and liked
to refer to his work
as a "tool-box" (Ibid, 523), and to himself as a "seller of tools, a maker of
recipes [recettes]"
(720).
B) On the other hand
He once offered the interesting comment that he would like his books to burn
themselves like
fireworks after having been read (Ibid., 725). I think he was pointing to the
nervousness that I
imagine any influential author feels at how their work will be used by others.
[I have a couple of
nice quotes from Weber lamenting how his "Protestant Ethic" was pressed into
service against
materialism; and we all know of Marx's "I am not a Marxist" statement.]
But what about:
> Do you believe others are capable of it?
Depends what you mean. There are many times I am working on something, and a
particular
insight or point of view on the topic comes that I don't think I would have
had without having
read Foucault. That, for me, is "using" Foucault, though perhaps you mean
something different.
Phil
You are making an interesting contribution to this list by posing apparently
simple questions that
help get people focussed on "Foucault 101" again. So thanks for that.
By way of a quick answer to:
> Did Foucault think others were capable of using his methods?
A) On the one hand
Foucault stated "I write for users, not for readers" (D+E II, 524), and liked
to refer to his work
as a "tool-box" (Ibid, 523), and to himself as a "seller of tools, a maker of
recipes [recettes]"
(720).
B) On the other hand
He once offered the interesting comment that he would like his books to burn
themselves like
fireworks after having been read (Ibid., 725). I think he was pointing to the
nervousness that I
imagine any influential author feels at how their work will be used by others.
[I have a couple of
nice quotes from Weber lamenting how his "Protestant Ethic" was pressed into
service against
materialism; and we all know of Marx's "I am not a Marxist" statement.]
But what about:
> Do you believe others are capable of it?
Depends what you mean. There are many times I am working on something, and a
particular
insight or point of view on the topic comes that I don't think I would have
had without having
read Foucault. That, for me, is "using" Foucault, though perhaps you mean
something different.
Phil