Re: [Foucault-L] source of quote

[Matthew King <making@xxxxxxxx>]

Dreyfus & Rabinow cite that quotation as "personal communication". Their 
wording is: "People know what they do; they frequently know why they do 
what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does." As 
Henning noted, it's on p. 187 of Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and 
Hermeneutics.

Matthew

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008, H. F. wrote:

> Hi Nate,
>
> As far as I can see the quote can be found in the Dreyfus/Rabinow
> Reader. I do only have acces to the German translation at the moment,
> so I cannot look up the precise formulation. Maybe you have the
> possibility do do it yourself? It should be on page 187:
> But Foucault—as he himself says—is less interested in knowing what and
> why something is done but in the question of what one’s own ‘doing
> does’ (Dreyfus, H. L. & P. Rabinow: Michel Foucault. Beyond
> Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago
> Press, 1982, pp. 187)
>
> The other famous quote is that of Marx when he tells us (in the 18th
> Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte):
> “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please;
> they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under
> circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.
> The tradition of all dead generations weighs like an Alp on the brains
> of the living...."
>
> or when Marx talks about the Fetishism of commodities (Capital Volume
> One):
> “whenever, by an exchange, we equate as values our different products,
> by that very act, we also equate, as human labour, the different kinds
> of labour expended upon them. We are not aware of this, nevertheless
> we do it.“
>
> kind regards,
>
> Henning
>
>
>
> Am 22.08.2008 um 22:33 schrieb Nathaniel Roberts:
>
> > I seem to remember Foucault writing something along the following
> > lines:
> >
> > "Men generally know what they are doing, and frequently know why
> > they are
> > doing it.  But what they do not so often know is what what they are
> > doing
> > does."
> >
> > This is my wording, not Foucault's, but I hope I have correctly
> > recalled the
> > essence of what he said.  Or am I confusing him with some other
> > source?
> >
> > Does anyone recall reading something like this by Foucault (or some
> > other
> > writer)?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Nate
> >
> > --
> > Nathaniel Roberts
> > Adjunct Assistant Professor
> > Department of Anthropology
> > Columbia University
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