STUDIES IN THE LILO _FTIY OF MICHEL FOUCAULT A French Alternative to Anglo-Americanism Edited by Brian Lightbody and Rohit Dalvi With a Commendatory Preface by Gabor Csepregi The Edwin Mellen Press Lewiston•Queenston.Lampeter Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Studies in the philosophy of Michel Foucault : a French alternative to Anglo- Americanism / edited by Brian Lightbody and Rohit Dalvi ; with a [commendatory] preface by Gabor Csepregi. p. em. Proceedings of a conference held in Mar. 2008 at Brock University. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-1324-5 ISBN-10: 0-7734-1324-3 1. Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984--Congresses. 2. Philosophy--Congresses. I. Lightbody, Brian. II. Dalvi, Rohit, 1974- B2430.F724S88 2010 194--dc22 2010022743 hors. serie. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Copyright © 2010 Brian Lightbody and Rohit Dalvi All rights reserved. For information contact (cid:9) The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press (cid:9) Box 450 Box 67 (cid:9) Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario (cid:9) USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS ILO The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd. Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents Commendatory Preface by Gabor Csepregi Editors' Preface(cid:9) iii Introduction Subjectivity(cid:9) 1 (cid:9) Chapter 1 3 Public and Private Within the Panoptic Modality of Facebook Sarah Hamilton (Trent University) (cid:9) Chapter 2 29 The Reviser and the Whistle-Blower Scott Nicholson (Queens University) Truth(cid:9) 45 (cid:9) Chapter 3 47 Foucault and Historical Epistemology: Development and Critique of the Philosophy of the Norm Samuel Talcott (University of the Sciences, Philadelphia) (cid:9) Chapter 4 67 Archaeology, Genealogy, Method Scott Balasak (McMaster University) (cid:9) Chapter 5 91 Foucault, Truth, Genealogy Saladdin Ahmed (Ottawa University) (cid:9) Chapter 6 107 Practices of Freedom: Foucault as Eudaimonist Rohit Dalvi (Brock University) (cid:9) Chapter 7 121 Foucault and His Use of the Ancients Annie Larivee (Carleton University) (cid:9) Chapter 8 141 Self-Transformation and Foucault Brian Lightbody (Brock University) Commendatory Preface Michel Foucault is doubtless one of most studied philosophers by the younger generation of scholars. Why do they turn with so much interest and curiosity to Foucault's books and lectures? Some are attracted to a thinker who devoted much of his energies to unmasking the most subtle modes of subjection in both the past and present ages. Others value his provocative insights and brilliant analyses on pivotal philosophical questions. The interests of Foucault were wide ranging. He wrote extensively on knowledge, history, subjectivity, science, language, body, ethics, education, and philosophy itself. Today lhe wealth of his ideas generates critical reactions and creative reflections. This book illustrates, for instance, how the central notions of self-transformation and exertion of power could be approached by fresh and stimulating considerations. In addition, the authors situate Foucault's practical philosophy in relation to views expressed by some eminent thinkers - Kant, Nietzsche, Dewey, or Bachelard. Thus they successfully highlight the originality and unity of Foucault's critical studies. No thought starts from scratch. However innovative the theories on power relations and historical constitution of the human subjectivity are. Foucault still seems to remain the heir of a long tradition that descends from the Greeks. lf, in the eyes of Foucault, a serious philosophical work should vigorously denounce various schemes of domination, it also has to articulate an ethics in which the care of the self and self-transformation are central concerns. To be sure. Foucault offers a radically new interpretation of the ancient ethics: the self is undergoing transformation through various daily practices in order to develop a political resistance. Although he strongly emphasizes the significance of historical political contexts, as well as the web of social relations created within these contexts, his underlying understanding of philosophy, and of the role it plays, takes its roots in the Antiquity and is shaped by his original reading of the philosophers of the tradition. In this respect Foucault's thoughts transcend a particular age. Surely, this is the sign of a great philosopher. The present collection of essays has the great merit of clarifying Foucault's ethical and political views in relation to some superficial and erroneous interpretations and shedding new light on the process of self- transformation. More importantly perhaps, the authors masterfully show what philosophy can achieve when it dares to challenge well entrenched views on contemporary ethical and social issues and, at the same time, seeks to remain reliant on its own historical roots. Gabor Csepregi Dominican University College 111 Editors' Preface This collection of essays stems from a conference sponsored by the Foucault Circle of Canada and held at Brock University in March of 2008. The theme of the conference was simply "Foucault and Philosophy." Such a theme may seem trite, but our intention was to bring Foucault back into the philosophical fold. The Foucauldian secondary literature has been dominated by sociologists, psychologists, criminologists and, increasingly, geographers for decades. We expect this trend to continue and look forward to seeing what new insights from Foucault's rich corpus may be gleaned from these diverse fields. We wanted to reverse this trend, if only for a day. Our purpose was clear: we were to bring together these "many lines of flight", these many threads and myriad interests of Foucault and tie them to their common source: philosophy. In a sense our aim was to remind all of those working on Foucault that he was first and foremost a philosopher. The work of most philosophers orbits around one, two or perhaps three central themes. Foucault is no different. The present study focuses on the three principal aspects of Foucault's work as Foucault himself acknowledged them to be namely, subjectivity, truth and power. We hope this volume will be of interest and assistance to the beginner and the expert alike, but above all we hope that we have preserved the integrity, profundity and fecundity of Foucault's thought. Editors: Brian Lightbody and Rohit Dalvi.