In this episode, the crew takes on a beloved figure of the academic ‘left’: Michel Foucault. The discussion gravitates around Foucault’s work in the early 1970’s on the ‘punitive society’, power as civil war, and popular rebellion. This post-‘68 period of his life and work is often seen as his most politically ‘radical’, both because of his activist involvement in the Prisons Information Group (GIP) and because he directly engages with Marxist discourse and thought. Nevertheless, the conversation quickly turns skeptical (to put it mildly). We question both the explanatory power and the political stakes of his historical studies: What is the principle of connection between the often remote historical discourses and events he examines and present conditions of life? What are the consequences of rejecting causal explanations of historical development? Above all, how salient and clarifying are his histories for emancipatory struggles in the present? We try to answer these questions, while poking a bit of fun at our Foucauldian friends and comrades. Oh and we talk about the CIA’s alleged awareness of the increasing hegemony of French theory in the academic left-apparently they loved that for us.
⬇️ 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚:
𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣: / leftofphilosophy
𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧: / leftofphil
𝙒𝙚𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚: www.leftofphilosophy.com/
📚𝙍𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨:
Michel Foucault, Penal Theories and Institutions: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1971-1972, ed. Bernard E. Harcourt et. al., trans. Graham Burchell (New York: Picador)
Michel Foucault, The Punitive Society: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1972-1973, ed. Bernard E. Harcourt, trans. Graham Burchell (New York: Palgrave MacMillan)
🎶𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘: "Vintage Memories" by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
🎧𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩:
𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙚: apple.co/3SOfGZ2
𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮: spoti.fi/3HJEiLQ
🎙𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩:
What’s Left of Philosophy is a podcast where four leftist friends get together to talk about concepts, thinkers, and texts from the history of philosophy and political theory.
Sometimes we talk about how good and useful certain ideas are for left theory and practice. Sometimes we mercilessly dunk on bourgeois idealism dressed up as radical thought. Sometimes we’re joined by extremely cool guests. We love concepts and long for an emancipated existence!
Episodes come out every two weeks on all major platforms. Most episodes are freely available for everyone, but supporters on Patreon get access to exclusive episodes and bonus content.