[Foucault-L] Curiosity and Common Sense

Curiosity as defined by Foucault strikes me as the exact opposite to "Common sense":

"Curiosity is a vice that has been stigmatized by Christianity, by philosophy and even by a certain conception of science. Curiosity, futility. I like the word however. To me it suggests something altogether different: it evokes "concern"; it evokes the care one takes for what exists and could exist; an acute sense of the real which, however, never becomes fixed; a readiness to find our surroundings strange and singular; a certain relentlessness in ridding ourselves of our familiarities and looking at things otherwise; a passion for seizing what is happening now and what is passing away; a lack of respect for traditional hierarchies of the important and the essential." (trans. mod. by Clare O' Farrell)
Michel Foucault [1980] 'The Masked Philosopher' in (1996) /Foucault Live (Interviews, 1961-1984).
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Another matter : for the last 2 months, posts to the Foucault-L list have been reviewed before validation to filter spam that broke through the anti-spam and other messages not compliant with the Foucault-L policy. I was hoping to switch the list back to automatic and not reviewing it any more, but as about 50% of posts are still not valid, it sounds better, for the quality of the Foucault-L, to go on reviewing. To reduce the delay between the time messages are posted and the time they are actually sent to the list, I ask to a few members, with frequent mail access and at a distance from Greenwitch/Paris, to volunteer to help me smooth the flux.
Please apply directly to admin-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, not to the list.

Camille
Foucault-L admin.


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