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Foucault
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Foucault

FlyingWindows
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Posted 06/27/09 - 09:00 AM: Subject: Foucault	#1
Hello everyone, I would like to ask the members here what Michel Foucault work I should start out with. I've read some of The History of Sexuality part 1 and really liked it so far. What other material is good for a Foucault noob? Thank you.

cosscos
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Posted 06/27/09 - 04:34 PM:	#2
The history of sexuality part 2 and part 3.

makerowner
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Posted 06/27/09 - 05:28 PM:	#3
Well I would have recommended that you go through it in order, but it's too late for that now. Les mots et les choses (tr. as The Order of Things) is might be a good place to start.
For philosophy, Socrates, if pursued in moderation and at the proper age, is an elegant accomplishment, but too much philosophy is the ruin of human life. Even if a man has good parts, still, if he carries philosophy into later life, he is necessarily ignorant of all those things which a gentleman and a person of honour ought to know.

ying
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Posted 06/28/09 - 01:50 PM:	#4
I really enjoyed reading "Discipline and Punish".
*"I determined nothing."* -Sceptical expression

quickly
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Posted 06/30/09 - 04:34 AM:	#5
If your goal is to understand the central themes - anthropocentrism and representation - which Foucault analyzes by means of the scientia sexualis, the panopticon, and madness, I would suggest The Order of Things.
Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura quae legis hic; aliter non fit philosophyforums.com (cf., Martial, Epigrammata I.XVI)

thewatcher
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Posted 06/30/09 - 02:15 PM:	#6
I would recommend The Order of Things and The Archeology of Knowledge. They are both thematically similar and provide the tools for understanding much of Foucault's later work.

thewatcher
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Posted 07/01/09 - 10:13 AM:	#7
I would also recommend "The Essential Foucault" as it contains many of his best interviews and essays.

philosoraptor

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Posted 07/07/09 - 09:43 AM:	#8
You should check out The Foucault - Chomsky debates as well. There is a book out but you should also be able to find them on youtube. It's helpful to see him in contrast with someone whose easier to understand like Chomsky. But be sure to read The Order of Things.

ambulafia
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Posted 07/12/09 - 09:57 AM:	#9
Unfortunately, Foucault had the habit of revising his ideas, excommunicating some and in some cases, covering his tracks. He also had the tendency to give a lot of lectures and interviews in doing so. Thus, to make some sense of him, I recommend that you read some texts ABOUT him also. Central texts in order: 1) The order of things 2) The archaeology of knowledge 3) Discipline and punish 4) History of sexuality Texts about his work: G. Gutting's "Michel Foucault's archaelogy of scientific reason" Prado's "Starting with Foucault" Dreyfus and Rabinow's "Michel FOucault: Beyond structularism and hermeneutics" Hope I helped.

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