Deleuze and Foucault
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
Elizabeth Grosz
8 or 12 points * 2 hours per week * Clayton
The subject aims to introduce students to a careful reading of selected texts of two recent French philosophers - Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze - who have singly and jointly theorised the nexus between desire and power. The subject is divided into three parts. (1) The common cultural and theoretical background of French philosophy in the twentieth century (through vitalism, structuralism, phenomenology, existentialism, psychoanalysis and Marxism) will be briefly surveyed to contextualise the writings of Foucault and Deleuze. (2) The last writings of Foucault, those he describes as `genealogy', his writings on prisons and disciplinary power, and his writings on the history of sexuality will be critically explored. (3) Deleuze's `rhizomatic writings', concentrating on Nietzsche, Sacher von Masoch and A thousand plateaus, will be examined.
Recommended reading
Descombes V Modern French philosophy
Foucault M Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison
Foucault M The history of sexuality vols 1-3
Gordon C (ed.) Knowledge/Power
Deleuze G Nietzsche and philosophy
Deleuze G Masochism, coldness and cruelty
Deleuze G and Guattari F A thousand plateaus