Deleuze and Foucault
Claire Colebrook
8 or 12 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
*
Clayton
Objectives On successful completion of this course students should have studied carefully a selection of the concepts and texts developed by Foucault and by Deleuze (in collaboration with Guattari); acquired various methods for reading their writings in detail; learnt how to assess critically the contributions made by these thinkers and to devise new positions based on their writings; and accumulated the critical and expressive resources to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to this subject.
Synopsis 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.
Assessment (8 points) One essay (6000 words): 100%
* or two essays
(3000 words each): 50% each
Assessment (12 points) One essay (9000 words): 100%
* or two essays
(4500 words each): 50% each
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
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