BHUM 17A04 - Michel Foucault: a critique of power

The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the philosophy of Michel Foucault, with a particular focus on the political aspects of his thought and on his influence over contemporary American philosophy. Michel Foucault has arguably been the most influential theorist of contemporary human sciences: this course will present his major works and ideas, such as the theory of power and knowledge, the history of sexuality and the genealogy of the modern subject. We will also focus on the criticism addressed to Foucault's thought by prominent figures of contemporary political thought, thus reconstructing some of the most important debates of recent political theory. Finally, we will study the influence of Foucault over human sciences, focusing on the American reception of his thought.
Andrea DI GESU
English
Autumn and Spring 2022-2023
Oral participation (discussing, reading, etc.) (10%) Oral presentation (25%) Essay (25%) Final essay (40%)
M. Foucault, Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison, Vintage Books
M. Foucault, Madness and civilization: a history of insanity in the age of reason, Vintage books
M. Foucault, The order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences, Vintage Books
M. Foucault, The history of sexuality, vol. I: an introduction, Vintage Books
M. Foucault, The hermeneutics of the subject: lectures at the Collège de France 1981-1982, Picador
J. Revel, Foucault, une pensée du discontinu, Mille et une nuits
H.L. Dreyfus, P. Rabinow, Michel Foucault: beyond structuralism and hermeneutics, University of Chicago Press
J. Habermas, The philosophical discourse of modernity, The MIT Press
J. Butler, Gender trouble. Feminism and the subversion of identity, Routledge
M. Hardt, A. Negri, Empire, Harvard University Press