Foucault: A Critical Reader (Blackwell Critical Readers)

This collection of articles on Michel Foucault confirms his position as one of the most influential thinkers in this last quarter of the century, and simultaneously demonstrates the current ambivalence among philosophers and social scientists about the actual grounds for such an assessment. Michael Foucault's Intellectual Journeys Carried Him Across Many Different Disciplines And Often Into Uncharted Lands. His Astonishing Discoveries And Claims Have Been Received With Both Unbridled Enthusiasm And Vehement Dissent. This Collection Of Essays Is The First To Bring Together Major Criticisms Of Foucault By Other Writers With Their Own Visions. From The Perspective Of Philosophy, The History Of Science, Intellectual History, Sociology, Political Science, And Literary Criticism, The Distinguished Contributors To This Book Discuss Forthrightly And Fairly The Difficulties And Dangers Of Foucault's Explorations. Whether They Attack Or Defend Him, His Texts Are Closely Examined And Carefully Interpreted. Introduction / David Couzens Hoy -- The Archaeology Of Foucault / Ian Hacking -- Foucault And Epistemology / Richard Rorty -- The Politics Of Michel Foucault / Michael Walzer -- Foucault On Freedom And Truth / Charles Taylor -- Taking Aim At The Heart Of The Present / Jurgen Habermas -- What Is Maturity? Habermas And Foucault On 'what Is Enlightenment?' / Hubert L. Dreyfus And Paul Rabinow -- Power, Repression, Progress: Foucault, Lukes, And The Frankfurt School / David Couzens Hoy -- Foucault And The Imagination Of Power / Edward W. Said -- The Politics Of Truth And The Problem Of Hegemony / Barry Smart -- In The Empire Of The Gaze: Foucault And The Denigration Of Vision In Twentieth-century French Thought / Martin Jay -- Foucault And The Tyranny Of Greece / Mark Poster -- Archaeology, Genealogy, Ethics / Arnold I. Davidson -- Self Improvement / Ian Hacking. Edited By David Couzens Hoy. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This collection gives a complete picture of FoucaultUs importance as a thinker and social critic who transcended academic boundaries to challenge entrenched, institutionalized models of theoretical rationality and practical normalcy. (Philosophy)