A english teacher of mine had this to say about the future influence of
Foucault. I was wondering what people made of this:
"I don't think the next step in literary theory will involve much Foucault
at all. Typically, literary theory follows other academic areas, usually
the social sciences, into certain directions. The social sciences are
experiencing a renaissance of interdisciplinary connections, not only among
themselves, but also with the harder sciences. Psychology is connected not
only with the larger realm of sociology, but also with anthropology,
behavioral genetics, epigenetics, and evolutionary biology, for example.
Historians have a new interest in "deep history," connecting what we know
anthropologically and genetically about our human ancestry with what is
written. Jared Diamond's work is a good representation of this.
I think we'll eventually see the same movement in literary theory. Already,
some are using evolutionary psychology as a mechanism for interpretation. I
could see literary theory beginning to evolve it's understanding of human
interactions through a deeper psychology, even with harder sciences like
neuroscience and behavioral genetics. Powerful insights into the deep
interaction of nature and nurture have already established that Foucault's
notions of subjectification and social construction are pretty far off the
mark. But, of course, Chomsky won that battle decades ago. The hard
sciences continue to vindicate Chomsky's understanding of language and human
nature. I think we'll see those ideas continue to develop and interact with
literary theory much more in the future."
--
Chetan Vemuri
West Des Moines, IA
aryavartacnsrn@xxxxxxxxx
(515)-418-2771
"You say you want a Revolution! Well you know, we all want to change the
world"
Foucault. I was wondering what people made of this:
"I don't think the next step in literary theory will involve much Foucault
at all. Typically, literary theory follows other academic areas, usually
the social sciences, into certain directions. The social sciences are
experiencing a renaissance of interdisciplinary connections, not only among
themselves, but also with the harder sciences. Psychology is connected not
only with the larger realm of sociology, but also with anthropology,
behavioral genetics, epigenetics, and evolutionary biology, for example.
Historians have a new interest in "deep history," connecting what we know
anthropologically and genetically about our human ancestry with what is
written. Jared Diamond's work is a good representation of this.
I think we'll eventually see the same movement in literary theory. Already,
some are using evolutionary psychology as a mechanism for interpretation. I
could see literary theory beginning to evolve it's understanding of human
interactions through a deeper psychology, even with harder sciences like
neuroscience and behavioral genetics. Powerful insights into the deep
interaction of nature and nurture have already established that Foucault's
notions of subjectification and social construction are pretty far off the
mark. But, of course, Chomsky won that battle decades ago. The hard
sciences continue to vindicate Chomsky's understanding of language and human
nature. I think we'll see those ideas continue to develop and interact with
literary theory much more in the future."
--
Chetan Vemuri
West Des Moines, IA
aryavartacnsrn@xxxxxxxxx
(515)-418-2771
"You say you want a Revolution! Well you know, we all want to change the
world"