Government 366 - Seminar in Political Theory: The Political Theory of Michel Foucault

Topics course: This course examines the work of Michel Foucault (1926 - 84), French philosopher, social critic, historian and activist, and generally acknowledged as one of the most influential of the thinkers whose work is categorized as poststructuralist. Foucault’s various inquiries into the production of knowledge and power have formed the paradoxically destabilizing foundation for much of the work on the status of the human subject in post-modernity. We explore the theoretically rich and dense approaches undertaken by Foucault, as well as illuminating his central ideas that seem to challenge much of what political theory accepts as a given. From "The Birth of the Clinic," "The Order of Things" and "Discipline and Punish" to his later works including "The History of Sexuality," "The Use of Pleasure," and "The Care of the Self," attention is given to how his works simultaneously advance and critique much of the canon of political theory. Prerequisite: Completion of Gov 100 and one other upper divi

Not open to first-years, sophomores