Speaking of extreme critiques of The Order of Things, this is one of
my favourites!
The critic in question (Gérard Mendel) talks about a desire in contemporary society (the late 60s) to return to a time 'before History and before the Father' which he describes as 'a myth which is impossible to realise, a myth which underlies Mein Kampf as much as The Order of Things, the myth of a quasi suicidal return... to a type of magical, irrational, 'maternal' relation to the environment. It is a question here of a psychotic "solution".' (p. 194)
He goes on
'The success of this work is a sign of the great contemporary confusion of minds. Its ideology of the irrational is closest to the analyses contained in Mein Kampf' [footnote follows] Both [works] express a nihilist revolt against aspects of the paternal figure, both express the paradestructive and finally suicidal violence of a death of man as a specific being...
In a certain way this book can be compared to the description in a manual of infectious pathology of the effect of a bacteria on an organism [ ie contemporary society] which has no capacity for resistance left' (pp. 334-335).
To be fair Mendel does refer at one point to 'the extreme intelligence of the author [Foucault]' and the 'collection of new and enlightening perspectives' in the book but quickly goes on to say that Foucault continually undermines these himself. (p. 324)
Gérard Mendel (1969). La Révolte contre le père: une introduction à la sociopsychanalyse, 2nd ed. Paris: Payot.
--
Clare
************************************************
Clare O'Farrell
email: panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.foucault.qut.edu.au
************************************************
The critic in question (Gérard Mendel) talks about a desire in contemporary society (the late 60s) to return to a time 'before History and before the Father' which he describes as 'a myth which is impossible to realise, a myth which underlies Mein Kampf as much as The Order of Things, the myth of a quasi suicidal return... to a type of magical, irrational, 'maternal' relation to the environment. It is a question here of a psychotic "solution".' (p. 194)
He goes on
'The success of this work is a sign of the great contemporary confusion of minds. Its ideology of the irrational is closest to the analyses contained in Mein Kampf' [footnote follows] Both [works] express a nihilist revolt against aspects of the paternal figure, both express the paradestructive and finally suicidal violence of a death of man as a specific being...
In a certain way this book can be compared to the description in a manual of infectious pathology of the effect of a bacteria on an organism [ ie contemporary society] which has no capacity for resistance left' (pp. 334-335).
To be fair Mendel does refer at one point to 'the extreme intelligence of the author [Foucault]' and the 'collection of new and enlightening perspectives' in the book but quickly goes on to say that Foucault continually undermines these himself. (p. 324)
Gérard Mendel (1969). La Révolte contre le père: une introduction à la sociopsychanalyse, 2nd ed. Paris: Payot.
--
Clare
************************************************
Clare O'Farrell
email: panoptique@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.foucault.qut.edu.au
************************************************