tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8426119612690020533.post1029054340345811265..comments2023-11-02T09:18:39.552+00:00Comments on Struggles With Philosophy: Foucault Wins!!!Mark202http://www.blogger.com/profile/13837144464668476373noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8426119612690020533.post-18992491429307631712007-11-02T15:42:00.000+00:002007-11-02T15:42:00.000+00:00If I had to choose from this list, it would probab...If I had to choose from this list, it would probably be Althusser - simply because I know his work best and I'm convinced there's still a lot of useful stuff in there. As more and more are returning to Marx (again), I wouldn't be surprised if a return engagement with his work is in the offing.<BR/><BR/>My dead French dude of the moment has to be Pierre Bourdieu, but I'm a sociologist so I'm biased.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8426119612690020533.post-82083075109765703222007-10-30T20:09:00.000+00:002007-10-30T20:09:00.000+00:00I'm surprised Foucault is the so called 'winner' i...I'm surprised Foucault is the so called 'winner' in a popularity contest! <BR/><BR/>For me, Foucault is such an intellectual inspirational and his ideas centering around power-knowledge which later develop into a full blossom becoming 'governmentality' is for me a fruitful way to understand most phenomena in the social world in terms of the power relations in society (I hate the phrase power structures, and its all about relationships, such as doctor-patient, prisoner-warden, etc.. that become 'experts') and the 'technologies of power'. <BR/><BR/>Nicolas Rose's - Powers of Freedom, an amazing Foucauldian analysis, which twists and turns with Deleuze's work. <BR/><BR/>Using his historical methods (genealogical and archaeological) to get to the essence of things, before starting any empirical research is so important. Where the 'history of the present' is of timely importance to our contemporary society. By looking at the limitations on thought and action, and in the Order of Things how different epistemes had generally different ways of articulating, thinking, signifying, representing, theorising. That need to be taken into account when looking at how ideas are limited by there time, such as Darwin and Curvier. <BR/><BR/>His ideas on subjectivity and ethics are also so amazing, however, most of it remains misunderstood. Such as academics repeated use of the panopticon to claim the same points about an idealised realm whereby individuals are controlled by the maximum economic force. <BR/><BR/>His ideas about being the 'critical intellectual' as opposed to the 'specific' or 'universal' also inspire my own thought into new directions. <BR/><BR/>A true philosopher.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com