Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 23:30:43 -0500 (CDT) From: Erik D Lindberg <edl-AT-csd.uwm.edu> Subject: Re: Foucault and Normativity On Tue, 11 Apr 1995, Kristin Switala wrote: > > > towards normative practices and institutions. He is trying to be as > anti-Hegelian as possible -- meaning that he is trying not to offer a > program for future behavior. Only the suggestion, as you point out, that > > I think this that this thread is becoming increasingly thoughtful, and therefore more interesting, but I would disagree about the relationship of Foucault and Hegel. Foucualt is an heir to the Hegelian legacy precisely in his unwillingness to offer a program for future behavior. I like to locate what I call an "archaeological turn" beginning with Hegel, for with Hegel philosophy became increasingly intersted not in the question of "should," but in the question of what is possible given what "is." As Hegel put it in the Preface to his PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT, "To comprehend WHAT IS is the task of philosophy, for WHAT IS is resson. As far as the individual is concerned, each individual is in any case a CHILD OF HIS TIME, thus philosophy, too, is ITS OWN TIME COMPREHENDED IN THOUGHT. It is just as foolish to imagine that any philosophy can transcende its contemporary world as that an individual can overleap his own time or leap over Rhodes." I would argue that the most relevant difference between Hegel in Foucault involves the issue of progress. While Hegel thought that intellectual "strife" would lead to absolute consciousness (the "cunning of reason"), Foucault thought that reason would not lead to "global" progress, but would reveal the contingencies of the "natural" or "determined," and thus open the possibility of various forms of "otherness," or "practices of freedom." Niether had much interest in positing any form of should, but were interested in the "is." Any other thoughts about the difference between Foucault and Hegel? Is the difference fairly constant throughout F's work? regards, Erik Lindberg Erik D. Lindberg Dept. of English and Comparative Lit. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53211 email: edl-AT-csd.uwm.edu ------------------
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