Hi all,
I do not wish to be dismissive of the high quality of
your discussion and the importance of Foucault's
work....but recently, I have the feeling that this
list has been a bit developing a 'cult' of
Foucault.....it seems to me reading some of the
discussions here that Foucault's thought is perfect,
that we should take every single observation of his
and apply it wholeheartedly....comments like "Foucault
is to be 'used'.....not read..." (I am slightly
paraphrasing here), etc. This I believe is totally
anathema to his tradition. I would actually think the
poor guy would be turning in his grave if he read some
of that stuff....(well...would satisfy his ego I am
sure...and I do understand he had quite a lot of
that?!?)
Now, for me, part of understanding a
philosopher/social theorist is to delve into a
critique of his work - rather than praise alone and
discussions of how to apply his method. As such, and
given Foucault's critical tradition of thought.....I
would gather that a traditional critique would be none
other than what is the contribution - it seems to me
that a lot of his work geared towards 'liberation' is
largely just a critique of the established orthodoxy
(the positivist tradition), granted, he does offer
important insights towards understanding what is wrong
with such a mode of thought....but well.....that's
about it really...isn't it? It's a lot easier to
destroy than it is to build - if I may put it in a
primitive way! Notice how most of his work is being
used in other disciplines to challenge the respective
disciplines' orthodoxy - a fine effort
nonetheless...don't get me wrong - but then
what.....fine we challenged and undermined the
orthodox arguments...then what...it seems to me
Foucault would abandon us there.....not willing to go
all the way....
It would be good to hear your opinions and other
criticisms of Foucault's work - if there are any in
the list?
Thank you, and particularly for your very rich
discussions.
Regards,
Mohamed
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