“Foucault's Lesson: Power-Knowledge and Socialist Strategy”

Professor Mark Kelly

Western Sydney University

WHU PHILOSOPHY SEMINAR SERIES

Wednesday April 25

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the chief lesson of Michel Foucault's thought for left-wing political praxis has been missed or ignored. It is, namely, what he calls the 'tactical polyvalence' of discourses, that is, the feature of language that it can be put to an indefinite number of political uses that cannot be discerned in advance. The left by contrast naïvely tends, like everyone in our society, to imagine that there are good and bad concepts, and hence to try to promote the good ideas and combat the bad ones. I will explore this dynamic in relation to recent trends in the Western – and particularly US – left towards concern with the use of language, encompassing what is called 'political correctness'. I will argue that Foucault's lesson is that the left badly need to refocus their efforts on understanding how power works, including in relation to language, rather than treating language at the level of its literal meanings and its associations.

About the Speaker

Mark Kelly is Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Western Sydney University. He is the author of three books on the thought of Michel Foucault, as well as more recently of Biopolitical Imperialism (Zero, 2015) and For Foucault: Against Normative Political Theory (SUNY, 2018).

Suggested Background Reading 

Foucault, Michel,  History of Sexuality Vol. I.pdf, Chapter 2: 'Method'.

When and Where

Pre-Seminar Briefing

· When: 14:30-15:30

· Where: B214, School of Philosophy

Tea/Coffee

· When: 15:30-16:00

· Where: Starbucks (all welcome, at own expense)

Seminar Presentation:

· When: 16:00-17:15

· Where: B214, School of Philosophy