One function of the word 'practice' in Althusser, as Jason Read (in an
as yet unpublished conference paper) has raised, is to displace
idealist conceptions of 'ideas' and so on, for example in the concept
of 'theoretical practice', which Read argues derives from Spinoza.
Given what Macherey says regarding the Spinozist aspect of Foucault -
in his paper in the collection _Michel Foucault: Philosopher_ - maybe
the word 'practice' in Foucault had a similar function, namely as a
means of displacing existing notions as much as entailing a positive,
elaborated concept? What you say about the doer and the doing also
rings bells regarding Spinozism as much as Nietzsche & Heidegger. I've
actually just started reading Stuart Elden's book _Mapping History_ at
the moment (or at least reading chapters from it, I *hope* to read the
whole thing before other things take over as they do), that makes the
case for the influence of Heidegger on Foucault (and especially on
Foucault's reading of Nietzsche) - if you haven't looked at that book
yet it might be a good place to start.
Sorry my reading of Foucault although relatively extensive has never been as systematic as my reading of Althusser and I can't remember exactly any passages where Foucault actually specifies how he conceptualises 'practice' in general, how it might be distinguished as different forms of practice, or what the relations might be in his work between general notions of practice and specific, concrete practices.
David
On 28/06/2005, at 5:20 PM, Kevin Turner wrote:
Sorry my reading of Foucault although relatively extensive has never been as systematic as my reading of Althusser and I can't remember exactly any passages where Foucault actually specifies how he conceptualises 'practice' in general, how it might be distinguished as different forms of practice, or what the relations might be in his work between general notions of practice and specific, concrete practices.
David
On 28/06/2005, at 5:20 PM, Kevin Turner wrote:
I'm wondering also, if there isn't a relation to Nietzsche here ("there
is no 'being'behind doing, acting, becoming; 'the doer' is merely a
fiction imposed on the doing - the doing itself is everything" (GM, 1
§13)), and thus also to Heidegger. Thus I am tempted to take the term
practice in Foucault
to simply refer to a doing or ways of doing - albeit historically
specific and limited forms of doing - which are constitutive of being.
What I am interested in, or rather the question I am asking, is does F
mean shared social practice (which on the one hand raises the question
of transmission - an inherited background to use Wittgenstein's phrase - and
on the other hand raises the question of identity/sameness) or is he
referring to historically specific and delimited ways of doing that are
loosely shared by a specific collective (i.e. disciplines such as medicine,
psychiatry, the penal system, etc).
In addition to the above, I'm also interested in whether F makes any sort of
distinction between practice and practices (vis., Kant).
Since
I have been unable to come to any firm conclusion in my own reading, I
am interested in what others have had to say on the subject.
Regards - Kevin.
-----Original Message-----_______________________________________________
From: borderlands@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 12:40:27 +0930
To: foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Foucault-L] practice
Hi Kevin
This is an interesting question - I'm not sure where Foucault theorised
'practice' in general. It might be useful to start from Althusser's
concept of practice as elaborated in _For Marx_ (and on which there
are, from memory, several commentaries by others published or
unpublished) and look at how Foucault might have responded to, or
perhaps incorporated, Althusser's concept of practice. As Warren
Montag and others have said, often there seems to have been a
theoretical dialogue - explicit or implicit - between Althusser and
Foucault.
I'm interested to read what others better read in Foucault - or perhaps
just with better memories - than I have to say on this question of a
general concept of practice in Foucault. Perhaps it exists only in
what Althusser termed 'the practical state' within Foucault's writings
on various practices?
DM
On 28/06/2005, at 2:51 AM, François Gagnon wrote:
Take a look at the index of Dits et Écrits... there's an impressive
list!
François
Kevin Turner a écrit :
can anybody point me in the direction of some texts that discuss f's
usage
of the term practice: i.e. as in discourse-practice; but also in
terms of
medical practice, disciplinary practices, governmental practice.
regards - k
_______________________________________________
Foucault-L mailing list
_______________________________________________
Foucault-L mailing list
_______________________________________________
Foucault-L mailing list
Foucault-L mailing list