Philosophy of Foucault, The by T May (9781844650569)
Philosophy of Foucault, The by T May (9781844650569)
Philosophy of Foucault, The (Book)
T May Release Date: January 2008 Format: Hardback Pages: 192 ISBN: 9781844650569 ISBN-10: 1844650561
Throughout the work of Michel Foucault the question "Who are we?" is never far from the surface. Although not the only question he elaborates, it is the one he asks most doggedly and explores most rigorously. Todd May centres his examination of the philosophical ideas of Foucault on this question and in so doing offers students an immediately engaging and perceptive way to understand Foucault. The book begins by exloring Foucault's archaeological writings, in particular "Madness and Civilization" and "The Order of Things", reading them as attempts to approach the question of who we are through analyses of various epistemologies. The works that Foucault calls "genealogical" are then examined. Focusing on "Discipline and Punish" and the first volume of "The History of Sexuality" May shows how these works are both distinguished from earlier works in their approach to the question of who we are and yet continuous with them in their concern with that question. In the second part of the book, May turns from the question of who we are to that of who we might be, which is suggested in Foucault's last two published volumes of "The History of Sexuality".
May shows that there Foucault's concerns have to do with individual and collective experiments in new ways of seeing ourselves and of living, and of offering novel answers to the question of who we are. The challenge of Baudrillard's and Deleuze's criticisms, which argue that the "digital age" or "the postmodern" represents a break with the kinds of self-formations Foucault describes, is discussed at length. Throughout, May compares Foucault's ideas with those of other thinkers, including Descartes, Freud, Nietzsche and Sartre and deftly situates Foucault in a larger historical context. "The Philosophy of Foucault" is an accessible and stimulating introduction for students new to Foucault and one that offers interpretations that those already acquainted with Foucault's work will find interesting and challenging.
