PHIL420/520 FA20

This course will examine some of Foucault’s most important concepts: genealogy, power/knowledge, the disciplines, governmentality and biopower. Our concern will be to understand and assess those concepts in their own right as well as in their relationship to other thinkers—most importantly, Nietzsche and Marx.

We will read widely in Foucault’s diverse corpus, including works published in his lifetime Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality: Volume One), the lecture courses at the College de France (Security, Territory, Population and The Birth of Biopolitics) and, of course, the interviews.

I hope to make time to discuss Foucault’s concrete political engagements such as his involvement with Groupe d’Information sur les Prisons (Prison Information Group), support for the Iranian Revolution, and alleged sympathy for neoliberalism. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the professor: max.rosenkrantz@csulb.edu