REL 305 (formerly 284) Foucault (Not offered 2008-2009; to be offered 2009-2010) (W)
Michel Foucault was first and foremost a scholar of power. His ironic "genealogies" of how the Enlightenment promised freedom but instead delivered intricate and perilous technologies of control have inspired philosophers, intellectual historians, and even novelists. Yet for all of this Foucault is often thought of as having posited a helpless subject trapped in an inescapable web. Worse, scholars such as Rosie Braidotti have seen this subject as a uniquely masculine maneuver-ignoring women's struggles. This course will consider Foucault and his own "mentors," Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Kant, among others, as well as exploring such central questions as Foucault's views on gender and sexuality. We will also examine whether Foucault was able-as he intended-to move beyond "resistance" in his later writings and help post-Enlightenment individuals engender a more empowered sense of subjectivity.
Format: seminar.
Prerequisites: none, although some work in Continental Philosophy will be helpful. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 10). Preference given to Religion majors.
SHUCK