PHL4940

Contemporary European thought A: Deleuze and Foucault

Elizabeth Grosz

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives This 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.

Synopsis The subject is divided into three parts: in the first, 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. In the second part we examine those he derides as `genealogy', his writings on prisons and disciplinary power; and his writings on the history of sexuality. In the third we will look at Deleuze's `rhizomatic writings', concentrating on Nietzsche, Sacher van Masoh and `A thousand plateaus'.

Assessment One 6000-word essay: 100%

Prescribed texts

A reading list may be obtained from the department.