Dear Mark,
Thank you for your detailed comments. What I wanted to say, was not an
ontological categorization. Let me clarify this:
I believe, talking of a center and peripheries is unavoidable when you deal
with a power relation since a power relation is a precise moment (like a
picture) of a dynamic relation of force. Microphysics, local struggle
points, (or the notion "minor" in Deleuze) are all concepts defining the
peripherical positions in relation to the center. If there is no center
point, if power is homogenously distributed to the whole of the society,
tell me how can someone resist? How can you think of the pathological when
the normal is not set? So that's what I was saying: an analysis of power for
Foucault is not solely in the sovereign state, in mechanisms of law nor in
the scientific discourse etc. but in precisely the "logic and operation of
the power relations" which determines all of these fields. And therefore, he
analyses power, through various power mechanisms which he calls "dispositif"
in order to understand this logic.
Please read this quote, it includes all I have to say:
« La politique n'est pas ce qui détermine en dernière instance (ou ce qui
surdétermine) des relations élémentaires et par nature neutres. Tout rapport
de force implique à chaque moment une relation de pouvoir (qui en est en
quelque sorte la coupe instantanée), et chaque relation de pouvoir renvoie,
comme à son effet mais aussi comme à sa condition de possibilité, à un champ
politique dont elle fait partie. Dire que « tout est politique », c'est dire
cette omniprésence des rapports de force et leur immanence à un champ
politique ; mais c'est se donner la tâche encore à peine esquissée de
débrouiller cet écheveau indéfini. » (« Les rapports de pouvoir passent à l'
intérieur des corps », 1977)
Power is everywhere. It is within our bodies. That is to say, power
centralizes itself in the heart of "power relations", through the games of
truth and by the games of truth. All becomes political, and all becomes part
of these power relations.
Can Batukan
Dept. of philosophy, Univ. of Galatasaray.
Thank you for your detailed comments. What I wanted to say, was not an
ontological categorization. Let me clarify this:
I believe, talking of a center and peripheries is unavoidable when you deal
with a power relation since a power relation is a precise moment (like a
picture) of a dynamic relation of force. Microphysics, local struggle
points, (or the notion "minor" in Deleuze) are all concepts defining the
peripherical positions in relation to the center. If there is no center
point, if power is homogenously distributed to the whole of the society,
tell me how can someone resist? How can you think of the pathological when
the normal is not set? So that's what I was saying: an analysis of power for
Foucault is not solely in the sovereign state, in mechanisms of law nor in
the scientific discourse etc. but in precisely the "logic and operation of
the power relations" which determines all of these fields. And therefore, he
analyses power, through various power mechanisms which he calls "dispositif"
in order to understand this logic.
Please read this quote, it includes all I have to say:
« La politique n'est pas ce qui détermine en dernière instance (ou ce qui
surdétermine) des relations élémentaires et par nature neutres. Tout rapport
de force implique à chaque moment une relation de pouvoir (qui en est en
quelque sorte la coupe instantanée), et chaque relation de pouvoir renvoie,
comme à son effet mais aussi comme à sa condition de possibilité, à un champ
politique dont elle fait partie. Dire que « tout est politique », c'est dire
cette omniprésence des rapports de force et leur immanence à un champ
politique ; mais c'est se donner la tâche encore à peine esquissée de
débrouiller cet écheveau indéfini. » (« Les rapports de pouvoir passent à l'
intérieur des corps », 1977)
Power is everywhere. It is within our bodies. That is to say, power
centralizes itself in the heart of "power relations", through the games of
truth and by the games of truth. All becomes political, and all becomes part
of these power relations.
Can Batukan
Dept. of philosophy, Univ. of Galatasaray.