Flesh, Truth, Sin: the Late Foucault Writings

elective seminars

(in Polish) Mile widziana znajomość historii filozofii starożytnej i nowożytnej, a także bierna znajomość języka angielskiego lub francuskiego umożliwiająca pracę z tekstami

The seminar will focus on concepts central to the late Foucault's thought, namely the concept of flesh, the concept of sin and the concept of truth. The seminar aims to carry out an in-depth reconstruction of the constellation formed by these concepts and examine how they complement or challenge his earlier work.

The seminar will start with the lecture of the last volume of the "History of Sexuality", namely " The Confessions of the Flesh". The title concept of the flesh (la chair) refers to a particular perception of the materiality of the body as a source of moral corruption. We will reconstruct the complex history of the formation of the Christian concept of the flesh during the course, taking into account those civilizational changes that had the most decisive impact on it. The history of the transformation of the body into corporeality will be the starting point for reconstructing the relationship with the other elements of the concept of this "Christian" subject, i.e. the idea of truth and the idea of sin. Interpretation of this structure will allow us to understand the evolution that this constellation has undergone and how its presence can be discerned in judicial and medical language.

The class will aim to perform a kind of "à rebours" reading of Foucault's writings and to examine to what extent his earlier writings on the origins of the discursive regimes of medicine and law and process of the emergence of the modern subject can be reconciled with the history of the Christian subject described in his later works.

Topics:

- the difference between the subject and the individual

- the history of the birth of the subject

- the truth-individual/the truth-subject relation

- the modes of externalization of truth

- the origins of corporeality and its relation to sin

- the transformation of flesh into the body - the subject of science and the subject of justice

M. Foucault:

1. „Wyznania ciała”, słowo/obraz/terytoria 2019

2. „Hermeneutyka podmiotu”, PWN 2012

2. „Rządzenie żywymi”, PWN 2014

4. „Zło czynić, prawdę mówić”, Znak 2018

5. „Subjectivité et vérité”, Gallimard 2014/ „Subjectivity and Truth”, Palgrave 2017

6. „L’origine de l’herméneutique de soi”, Vrin 2017/ „About the Beginning of the Hermeneutics of the Self”, Chicago University Press 2015

7. „Dire vrai sur soi-même, Vrin 2017

8. „La culture de soi”, Vrin 2015/ The Culture of the Self (nagrania z wykładów w Berkeley)

9. „Technologies of the Self”, MIT 1988

Acquired knowledge

Students have:

- the knowledge of specialist philosophical terminology in Polish

- the knowledge of views of a philosopher or the current state of research in a selected philosophical issue

- the knowledge of the complex nature of language and historical variability of its meanings

Acquired skills

Students have:

- the ability to interpret philosophical texts independently

- the ability to identify argumentative strategies in oral and written statements

- the ability to formulate precisely, orally and in writing, complex philosophical problems, to formulate a thesis and to comment on them critically

Acquired social competences

Students are ready:

- to identify their own knowledge and skills

- to recognize gaps in their knowledge and skills

- to carry out their own research

The grade will be based on:

a) attendance

b) active participation in the discussions

c) presentation or an essay