Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:31:14.278Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Agony of Politics: the Nietzschean Roots of Foucault's Thought

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Leslie Paul Thiele
Leslie Paul Thiele*
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The politics of Michel Foucault remain controversial, mainly because they remain ambiguous. His critics charge that the ambiguity is symptomatic of a theory that fosters moral abandon and political impotence. This predicament is frequently attributed to Nietzsche's influence. I outline the critics' charges and investigate to what extent Foucault's thought evidences Nietzschean roots. Specifically, I examine Nietzsche's glorification of struggle and seek to demonstrate that a valorization of struggle constitutes the core of Foucault's political thought.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 84 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 907 - 925
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Danto, Arthur C. 1965. Nietzsche As Philosopher. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1961. Folie et déraison: Histoire de la folie a l'âge classique. Paris: Librairie Pion.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1970. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1972. The Archaeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1974. “Human Nature: Justice versus Power.” In Reflexive Waters, ed. Elder, Fons. London: Souvenir.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1976. Preface to L'affaire Mirval; ou, Comment le récit abolit le crime by Cuau, Bernard. Les Presses d'Aujourd'hui.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1976–1977. “Histoire des systèmes de pensée.” In Annuaires du Collège de France. Paris: Collège de France.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1977. Language, Countermemory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1978a. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1, An Introduction. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1978. “Questions of Method: An Interview with Michel Foucault,” I and C. 8:3–14.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1981. “Omnes et singulatum: Towards a Critique of ‘Political Reason.’” In The Tanner Lectures on Human Values vol. 2, ed. McMurrin, Sterling. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1982–1983. “Sexual Choice, Sexual Act: An Interview with Michel Foucault.” Salmagundi 58–59:16–17.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1983a. Preface to Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Felix. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1983b. “On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress.” In Michel Foucault, 2d ed., ed. Dreyfus, Hubert and Rabinow, Paul. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1983c. “The Subject and Power.” In Michel Foucault, 2d ed., ed. Dreyfus, Hubert and Rabinow, Paul. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1984a. The Foucault Reader. ed. Rabinow, Paul. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1984b. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 2, The Use of Pleasure. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1985a. “Final Interview.” Raritan 5:1–13.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1985b. “An Interview with Michel Foucault.” History of the Present (Berkeley) 1.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1988. Michel Foucault—Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and other Writings 1977–1984, ed. Kritzman, Lawrence, trans. Sheridan, Alanet al.New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1989. Foucault Live, ed. Lotringer, Sylbère. New York: Semiotexte.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy. 1981. “Foucault on Modern Power: Empirical Insights and Normative Confusions.” Praxis International 1:272–87.Google Scholar
Gandal, Keith. 1986. “Michel Foucault: Intellectual Work and Politics.” Telos 67:121–34.Google Scholar
Gittlin, Todd. 1988. “Hip-deep in Postmodernism.” New York Times Book Review 6 November.Google Scholar
Habermas, Jürgen. 1986. “The Genealogical Writing of History: On Some Aporias in Foucault's Theory of Power.” Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory 10:1–9.Google Scholar
Lyotard, Jean-Francois. 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1920–1929. Gesammelte Werke. 23 vols. Munich: Musarion.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1967a. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1967b. Ecce Homo. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1967c. On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemic. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter and Hollingdale, R. J.. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1968a. Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1968b. The Will to Power. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter and Hollingdale, R. J.. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1969. Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1972. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1974. The Gay Science. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1975–1984. Nietzsche Briefwechsel, Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 15 vols. Ed. Colli, Giorgio and Montinari, Mazzino. New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1982. Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1983. Untimely Meditations. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1986. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Trans. Hollingdale, R. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Said, Edward. 1984. “Michel Foucault, 1927–1984.” Raritan 4:1–11.Google Scholar
Sheridan, Alan. 1980. Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth. New York: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1984. “Foucault on Freedom and Truth.” Political Theory 12:152–83.Google Scholar
Thiele, Leslie Paul. 1986. “Foucault's Triple Murder and the Modern Development of Power.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 19:243–60.Google Scholar
White, Stephen K. 1988. “Poststructuralism and Political Reflection.” Political Theory 16:186–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.