Hello,
I think it is difficult to answer the question without refering to
Foucault's biography. The influence of Husserl's work on Foucault has
certainly something to do with the fact that he worked as a psychologist for
a time, before being the famous philosopher whe all know. Whe also know that
he studied Merleau Ponty's work during his years at the ENS, and Merleau
Ponty is a french phenomenologist who, with Sartre at the same time, was
directly referring to Husserl's work. But, after that, Foucault's work on
psychology before he ended his famous thesis on madness, made him interest
into a form of psychoanalysis directly influenced by phenomenology and
hermeneutics. For exemple, in 1954, he wrote a big introduction to Ludwig
Binswanger's french traduction of *Traum und Existenz*. Binswanger
psychoanalysis (Daseinsanalysis) was firstly inspired by Edmund Husserl's
work, before he adopted a more Heideggerian terminology after 1929, after
Sein und Zeit was published... This means that for sure, Foucault had an
early contact with phenomenology (Husserl and Merleau Ponty), because of his
interests into phsycology.
But after the reading of Nietzsche (his "philosophical shock") and Heidegger
(that he surprisingly never mention in his 1954 work on Binswanger!), it
seems that Foucault became verry critical against the fundamental
phenomenological principles, the transcendantal subject, cartesian
subjectivity or kantian transcendantalism, as it seems that Foucault was
taking Nietzsche's doubt verry seriously: there is something that is
thinking, but are we sure that "I" is the thinker? But it is also like he
was following Heidegger's early critic of metaphysics, for whom the modern
subject, defined by the identity of "subjectum" and aristotle's "to
hypokeimenon", is conceived as the central metaphysical principle that
determined ontology and knowledge since Descartes. Maybe, another factor
that influenced him against the phenomenological (or bergsonian) conception
of subject is the influence of structuralism during the 60's, but that's
another story...
Cordially,
Jeffrey Tallane
2010/10/18 <a.e.leeds@xxxxxxxxx>
> 1. One line of transmission is through Cavailles and Canguilhem:
>
> Hyder, David, 2003. Foucault, Cavaillès, and Husserl on the Historical
> Epistemology of the Sciences, Perspectives on Science 2003, vol. 11,
> no. 1
>
> Thompson, Kevin, 2008. HISTORICITY AND TRANSCENDENTALITY: FOUCAULT,
> CAVAILLÈS, AND THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE CONCEPT, History and Theory 47
> (February 2008), 1-18
>
> Webb, David(2003) 'Cavailles, Husserl and the historicity of science',
> Angelaki, 8: 3, 59 — 72
>
> 2. But, I mean, its just absurd to think that any Frenchman writing
> then (not to say that the situation is that different now) would not
> have read and discussed huge quantities of Husserl.
>
> 3. One word: Heidegger.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 6:29 PM, james <spatium@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Now that we have assessed the influence of Bergson on Foucault, I have
> > always wanted to know about Husserl's influence. Does anyone know any
> > details? Jeffrey Tallane mentioned his name as influence, but what
> > hard evidence is there outside the general phenomenological concern?
> >
> > James
> > _______________________________________________
> > Foucault-L mailing list
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Adam E. Leeds
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Department of Anthropology
> University of Pennsylvania, and
> Visiting Researcher
> Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR)
> Москва: +7-985-929-33-49
> US: 914.980.2970
> leeds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
I think it is difficult to answer the question without refering to
Foucault's biography. The influence of Husserl's work on Foucault has
certainly something to do with the fact that he worked as a psychologist for
a time, before being the famous philosopher whe all know. Whe also know that
he studied Merleau Ponty's work during his years at the ENS, and Merleau
Ponty is a french phenomenologist who, with Sartre at the same time, was
directly referring to Husserl's work. But, after that, Foucault's work on
psychology before he ended his famous thesis on madness, made him interest
into a form of psychoanalysis directly influenced by phenomenology and
hermeneutics. For exemple, in 1954, he wrote a big introduction to Ludwig
Binswanger's french traduction of *Traum und Existenz*. Binswanger
psychoanalysis (Daseinsanalysis) was firstly inspired by Edmund Husserl's
work, before he adopted a more Heideggerian terminology after 1929, after
Sein und Zeit was published... This means that for sure, Foucault had an
early contact with phenomenology (Husserl and Merleau Ponty), because of his
interests into phsycology.
But after the reading of Nietzsche (his "philosophical shock") and Heidegger
(that he surprisingly never mention in his 1954 work on Binswanger!), it
seems that Foucault became verry critical against the fundamental
phenomenological principles, the transcendantal subject, cartesian
subjectivity or kantian transcendantalism, as it seems that Foucault was
taking Nietzsche's doubt verry seriously: there is something that is
thinking, but are we sure that "I" is the thinker? But it is also like he
was following Heidegger's early critic of metaphysics, for whom the modern
subject, defined by the identity of "subjectum" and aristotle's "to
hypokeimenon", is conceived as the central metaphysical principle that
determined ontology and knowledge since Descartes. Maybe, another factor
that influenced him against the phenomenological (or bergsonian) conception
of subject is the influence of structuralism during the 60's, but that's
another story...
Cordially,
Jeffrey Tallane
2010/10/18 <a.e.leeds@xxxxxxxxx>
> 1. One line of transmission is through Cavailles and Canguilhem:
>
> Hyder, David, 2003. Foucault, Cavaillès, and Husserl on the Historical
> Epistemology of the Sciences, Perspectives on Science 2003, vol. 11,
> no. 1
>
> Thompson, Kevin, 2008. HISTORICITY AND TRANSCENDENTALITY: FOUCAULT,
> CAVAILLÈS, AND THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE CONCEPT, History and Theory 47
> (February 2008), 1-18
>
> Webb, David(2003) 'Cavailles, Husserl and the historicity of science',
> Angelaki, 8: 3, 59 — 72
>
> 2. But, I mean, its just absurd to think that any Frenchman writing
> then (not to say that the situation is that different now) would not
> have read and discussed huge quantities of Husserl.
>
> 3. One word: Heidegger.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 6:29 PM, james <spatium@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Now that we have assessed the influence of Bergson on Foucault, I have
> > always wanted to know about Husserl's influence. Does anyone know any
> > details? Jeffrey Tallane mentioned his name as influence, but what
> > hard evidence is there outside the general phenomenological concern?
> >
> > James
> > _______________________________________________
> > Foucault-L mailing list
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Adam E. Leeds
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Department of Anthropology
> University of Pennsylvania, and
> Visiting Researcher
> Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR)
> Москва: +7-985-929-33-49
> US: 914.980.2970
> leeds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list