Michel Foucault – Key Concepts

please read pages 13-26 [pdf pages 22 – 35] of the PDF entitled “Michel Foucault – Key Concepts.” The selection for class on Monday is a short chapter on Foucault’s theory of power written by Richard Lynch.
+ Questions of Conisderation:
– How does Foucault understand power?
– What is the older model of power that Foucault is displacing?
– Can you think of any examples that support or disrupt Foucault’s model of power?

Please read all of Chapter 1 of Liz Grosz’s Volatile Bodies, from pages 3 -24

You are encouraged to write on whatever strikes you in the reading.

+ Questions for Consideration:
Grosz lists a number of dyadic distinctions that map onto the dichotomy that has been traditionally attributed to that of mind and body. What are these? Based on your experience, does this seem accurate?

She also maps this series of distinctions onto that of male and female. Whoa! Does this seem accurate or problematic? Any examples to prove or disprove this notion?

What evidence does Grosz give of somatophobia in Western thought?

Grosz identifies at least three lines of investigation of the body in contemporary thought which may be regarded as the heirs of Cartesianism. What are they? Why should feminist theory be committed to moving beyond them?

• What are some of the ways in which Grosz presents the metaphysics of Spinoza? How does she describe this? How is it different from Descartes? (what happens to Cartesian mind-body dualism in Spinoza?)
• What is egalitarian feminism? What are some of Grosz’s criticisms of egalitarian feminism? Do you agree or disagree with these?
• According to Grosz, why are feminists not interested in how the body is biologically given?

• Why is there no body as such for Grosz? How does this disrupt conventional analyses of embodiment in philosophy (such as Descartes)?

• What are Grosz’s goals for a Feminist Theoretical Approach to Concepts of the Body What do you make of these? Go over each of them. Do they seem legitimate? Possible? Practical?