Dr Barry Stocker Assistant Professor Department of Philosophy Boğaziçi University barry.stocker@boun.edu.tr FOUCAULT PHIL 585 SPRING SEMESTER, 2024 COURSE OUTLINE Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a major philosopher, and a major thinker in many fields, due to the highly inter-disciplinary nature of his work. It is close to impossible to cover all his major contributions in many fields in one semester. The course is an attempt to look at Foucault’s core philosophical achievements as they relate to aesthetics, literary writing, ethics, power, government, society, the self, political philosophy, philosophical method, language and discourse, political speech, law and jurisprudence, and philosophy of history, amongst other things. Mostly the course concentrates on short texts in order to maximise the range of texts discussed. The course does begin with an entire book, Archaeology of Knowledge, which is the closest Foucault comes to a programmatic statement of his philosophical project (along with The Order of Discourse, which is also in the course. It is not really a complete program, but it is well worth studying in full due to its elaborate articulation of the discourse appropriate to many fields of knowledge and modes of knowing. It would be a mistake though to see it as a detached objective work in relation to knowledge. Though it may sometimes appear to be so, in reality it is one step in Foucault’s explorations of the ways in which knowledge is connected with the subject, the individual (which is trying to know), and its ways of forming a world for itself. We will try to follow Foucault’s path through the possibilities of different kinds of knowledge, object of knowledge and knowing subjects. They are also aesthetic, political, conscious interpreting individuals, caught up in forms of power, discourse, subjectivity and ethical relations, as well as self-relations. The course also ends with a book, but it is a collection of lectures rather than an integrated monograph, Fearless Speech which brings together Foucault’s thoughts towards the end of his sadly curtailed life about ancient tragedy, ancient politics, self creation, democracy, institutions, freedom and political speech. In the middle of the course ‘Truth and Juridical Form’ gives the course two weeks on Foucault’s investigations of the intersections of truth, power, law, courts, police and prisons in the relations between individuals, institutions and state sovereignty. 2 SCHEDULE (Publication information about these texts and online links to pdf version can be found on pages four and five of this document. Please make sure you download these texts and use them in all class discussions, class presentations, and course assessments, in order to avoid confusion about page numbers, translations used etc, or use printed versions of the same texts with the same pagination) Week One Archaeology of Knowledge Part I Introduction Week Two Archaeology of Knowledge Part II The Discursive Regularities Week Three Archaeology of Knowledge Part III The Statement and the Archive Week Four Archaeology of Knowledge Part IV Archaeological Description, V Conclusion Week Five ‘Order of Discourse’, ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’ Week Six ‘Truth and Juridical Form’. Sections I, II and III Week Seven ‘Truth and Juridical Form’. Sections IV and V. Week Eight ‘What is an Author’, ‘Technologies of the Self’ Week Nine ‘What is Enlightenment’, ‘Self Writing’, ‘Language to Infinity’, ‘The Hermeneutic of the Subject’ Week Ten ‘“Omnes et Singulatum: Toward a Critique of Political Reason’, ‘The Subject and Power’ Week Eleven ‘The Thought of the Outside’ Week Twelve Fearless Speech Chapter 1 The Word Parrhesia Week Thirteen Fearless Speech Chapter 2 Parrhesia in Euripides Chapter 3 Parrhesia in the Crisis of Democratic Institutions Week Fourteen Fearless Speech Chapter 4 Parrhesia in the Care of the Self Concluding Remarks 3 CLASSES The first class will be an hour of the instructor introducing the course followed by two hours of introduction and discussion of the reading for the first week. Subsequent classes will have an hour for a student presentation on the material introduced in the preceding week, followed by two hours of introduction and discussion for the reading for the week concerned. As this is a graduate class, there is a strong expectation that students will read the texts for the class carefully before the class, as well as other relevant material, so that they will be ready for an informed discussion. Students are also expected to always have the necessary texts with them in class, in printed form or on electronic devices. Students are required to give a minimum number of 2 seminar papers in the course and possibly more, depending on how large the group is. Written up versions of seminar papers are graded as part of the course assessment. Presenting a seminar paper on the scheduled day is compulsory. Failure to do so will result in automatically failing the course. You can give a computer presentation through a projector, but this is not required and I cannot guarantee an ideal technical situation with regard to a functioning projector, which connects with your computing device. Mac users should bring the appropriate adaptor for connecting to a projector. Speak slowly and clearly. Do your best to look at the class while speaking and do your best to give an energetic stimulating presentation. Aim to speak for at least 30 minutes. When you are not presenting, do not be passive. Study the relevant texts beforehand, and be ready to ask polite but challenging questions, or make counter points in a lively and informed discussion. ASSESSMENT Two seminar papers (One third of course grade) Each seminar paper should be 1000 words at least (your 2 best seminar papers if you give more than 2 seminars) First term paper (One third of course grade) At least 2000 words Second term paper (One third of course grade) At least 2000 words After grading the first seminar paper and after grading the first term paper, the instructor will send an email to students explaining the grade with regard to strengths and weaknesses of the paper. The instructor will make suggestions with regard to making the second seminar paper and the second term paper better. Term papers may build on the seminar papers, incorporating material into an expanded and improved discussion. All assessments must be submitted on time to pass the course. Failure to do so leads to an automatic F. Deadlines: Term Paper One: Friday 21st May, 18:00 Term Paper Two: Friday 7th June, 18:00 All papers should be submitted as email attachments. Papers should definitely quote from the assigned texts by Foucault, preferably with reference to other relevant texts by Foucault and from relevant texts by other authors. Plans of papers and drafts can be sent to the instructor for feedback. This is strongly encouraged. Term Paper One should refer to texts by Foucault assigned for weeks one to seven. Term Paper Two should refer to texts by Foucault assigned for weeks eight to fourteen. Please check with me if you are uncertain about how appropriate your paper topics are. You may discuss texts by Foucault not discussed in the course and relevant texts by other authors, but at least half of any paper should focus on a text, or texts, assigned in the course. 4 COURSE TEXTS PUBLICATION DETAILS AND ONLINE LINKS A significant proportion of the course texts are from the three volumes which make up Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984. Edited by Paul Rabinow. Volume 1. Ethics. Subjectivity and Truth Edited by Paul Rabinow New Press, 1997/Penguin Books, 2000 https://monoskop.org/images/0/00/Foucault_Michel_Ethics_Subjectivity_and_Truth.pdf Volume 2. Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology Edited by James D. Faubion New Press, 1998/Penguin Books, 2000 https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf Volume 3. Power Edited by James B. Faubion. New Press and Penguin Books, 2000 https://monoskop.org/images/b/b9/Foucault_Michel_Power_2000.pdf Full list of of course texts with online link to pdf. Archaeology of Knowledge [L’Archéologie du savoir, 1969] Translated by A.M. Sheridan, Tavistock Institute/Pantheon Books, 1972 https://monoskop.org/images/9/90/Foucault_Michel_Archaeology_of_Knowledge.pdf Fearless Speech (1983 lectures at Berkeley) Edited by Joseph Pearson, Semiotext(e), 2001 https://monoskop.org/images/b/ba/Foucault_Michel_Fearless_Speech.pdf ‘What is Enlightenment?’ [‘Qu’est ce que les Lumières?’, 1983) Translated by Catherine Porter In Essential Works of Foucault: Ethics https://monoskop.org/images/0/00/Foucault_Michel_Ethics_Subjectivity_and_Truth.pdf ‘The Subject and Power’ [written in English by Foucault 1982] In Essential Works of Foucault: Power https://monoskop.org/images/b/b9/Foucault_Michel_Power_2000.pdf ‘The Order of Discourse’ [L’Ordre du discours, 1971] Translated by Ian McLeod In Untying the Text, edited by Robert Young, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. https://monoskop.org/images/7/78/ Foucault_Michel_1970_1981_The_Order_of_Discourse.pdf 5 ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’ [‘Nietzsche, la généalogie, l’histoire’, 1971] Translated by Donald F. Brouchard and Sherry Simon In Essential Works of Foucault: Aesthetics https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf ‘The Thought of the Outside’ [‘La pensée du dehors’, 1966] Translated by Brian Massumi In Essential Works of Foucault: Aesthetics https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf ‘Language to Infinity’ [‘Le langage à l’infini’, 1963] Translated by Donald F. Brouchard and Sherry Simon In Essential Works of Foucault: Aesthetics https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf ‘What is an Author?’ [‘Qu’est-ce qu’un auteur’, 1969] Translated by Josué V. Harari In Essential Works of Foucault: Aesthetics https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf ‘“Omnes et Singulatum”: Toward a Critique of Political Reason’ [Tanner Lectures, Stanford University, 1979] In Essential Works of Foucault Power In Essential Works of Foucault: Aesthetics https://monoskop.org/images/c/cf/ Foucault_Michel_Aesthetics_Method_and_Epistemology_1998.pdf ‘Truth and Juridical Forms’ [‘La Vérité et les formes juridiques’, lectures at Ponitifical Catholic University of Rio de Janiro, 1973] Translated by Robert Hurley In Essential Works of Foucault: Power https://monoskop.org/images/b/b9/Foucault_Michel_Power_2000.pdf ‘Technologies of the Self’ [Lecture at the University of Vermont, 1982] In Essential Works of Foucault: Ethics https://monoskop.org/images/0/00/Foucault_Michel_Ethics_Subjectivity_and_Truth.pdf ‘Self Writing’ [Lecture at the University of Vermont, 1982] In Essential Works of Foucault: Ethics https://monoskop.org/images/0/00/Foucault_Michel_Ethics_Subjectivity_and_Truth.pdf ‘The Hermeneutic of the Subject’ [‘L’Herméneutique du sujet: Résumé du cours’, 1982] Translated by Robert Hurley In Essential Works of Foucault: Ethics https://monoskop.org/images/0/00/Foucault_Michel_Ethics_Subjectivity_and_Truth.pdf 6 Further Readings A separate document will be circulated later to students containing detailed suggestions for further reading. The obvious starting point is to read other texts by Foucault. For secondary readings, begin with Gary Gutting and Johanna Oksala’s contribution to the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, both for its interpretation of Foucault and for its bibliographical suggestions. Other prominent Foucault commentators and interpreters, or well known writers who have engaged with Foucault include: Ian Hacking, Quentin Skinner, Daniele Lorenzini, Ben Golder, Stuart Elden, Thomas Lemke, Barry Allen, Pierre Hadot, G.C. Prado, Peter Sloterdijk, Jürgen Habermas, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Samuel Fleischacker, Maurice Blanchot, Roberto Esposito, Judith Butler, Giorgio Agamben, Edward Said, Axel Honneth, Peter Brown. Peter Brown is a very major figure in the history of late antiquity who had a significant influence on Foucault’s work on this period and who was himself interested in Foucault’s ideas. The whole field of biopolitics/biopower (which includes Lemke, Esposito and Agamben) is heavily influenced by Foucault. Nearly all recent discussion of the Ancient Greek word for free and provocative speech, parrhesia, is marked by Foucault's work on this. Similar comments apply to the cultural and social history of madness, sexuality, and selfcreation, along with work on the role of discourse in the shaping of knowledge. Students are very welcome to contact me for suggesting readings related to particular interests in Foucault and connections or comparisons with Foucault. Pre-existing or new interests in figures who influenced Foucault will help you understand Foucault by putting him in context. Foucault draws on many influences. The most obvious one is Friedrich Nietzsche. Other philosophers Foucault studied deeply include Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, and Edmund Husserl. His teachers included Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Louis Althusser. In social theory, his work shows, directly or indirectly, deep awareness of the great classical sociological theorists: Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber. He sometimes refers to the work of his mentor Georges Dumézil (who was a Professor at the University of Istanbul from 1925-1931, and conducted field research in Turkey every year after relocating), a major figure in ancient mythology, religion, and linguistics. Foucault often refers to tragic drama, particularly the Ancient Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. He refers to and discusses Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the King on many occasions. Amongst modern literary writers, Foucault makes brief but significant reference to Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Jorge Luis Borges. Earlier French thinkers who leave a significant mark on Foucault include: the 16th century philosopher and essayist Michel de Montaigne; the eighteenth century writer on law, history, politics and society, as well as novelist, Montesquieu; the eighteenth century libertine essayist and novelist, the Marquis de Sade; the twentieth century literary critic, literary writer, theorist of society, religion and psychology, Georges Bataille. Foucault’s politics is a very complex and interesting subject. He has influenced radical leftists and free market libertarian capitalists, as well as many people in between.