Knowledge and politics have been closely related since Plato’s Republic. However, their relation has become more problematic than ever in late modernity, giving rise to divergent approaches. For some, the task of a rational practice is to be critical, especially with regard to the relation between knowledge and power, and this module will explore in detail the idea of critique in the work of Michel Foucault. To establish the relation between Foucault’s conception of critique and the rationality the module will situate Foucault’s work with respect to historical epistemology and the work of figures such as Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem. It will go on to consider the importance of critique for Foucault’s notion of ethics.

The essay (Assessment Element 1) will provide evidence to evaluate students against Learning Outcomes 1, 2, and 3.
The discussion board contributions (Assessment Element 3) will primarily provide evidence to evaluate students against Learning Outcome 3.

The main focus will be guided independent study within a structured framework organised around reading and research materials provided by the module tutor. Week by week students will work through course materials (e.g., 'lecture notes,' tutorial videos, podcasts, delivered via blackboard) that provide guidance in reading key texts, the context in which they sit, and activities and/or questions. This work will be undertaken on an individual basis as independent study, but students will be expected to interact regularly with fellow students, tutors, and guest lecturers through the discussion forum.

1. Understand critically a range of key ideas in recent continental thought, in the light of the relation of the forms and imperatives of knowledge to politics, as well as other issues in contemporary thought. Knowledge and Understanding

2. Understand these discrete ideas in relationship to each other, and in relation to certain other intellectual or historical phenomena. Analysis, Enquiry

3. Communicate in a clear, balanced, well-structured, critical and analytical manner concerning your research findings. Communication

Blackboard
Library Services

Gaston Bachelard, The New Scientific Spirit (Beacon Press, 1986).
Gaston Bachelard, The Formation of the Scientific Mind (Clinamen Press, 2002).
Judith Butler, ‘What is Critique? An Essay on Foucault’s Virtue’ Transversal 5, 2001.
Georges Canguilhem, A Vital Rationalist (Zone Books, 2000).
Georges Canguilhem, Knowledge of Life (Fordham University Press, 2008).
Georges Canguilhem, Writings on Medicine (Fordham University Press, 2012).
Michel Foucault, The Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984 Vol 1 Ethics, Truth, and Subjectivity (Penguin, 1998).
Michel Foucault, The Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984 Vol 2 Aesthetics (Penguin, 1998).
Michel Foucault, The Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984 Vol 3 Power (Penguin, 1998).
Beatrice Han-Pile, ‘Foucault Normativity and Critique as a Practice of the Self’, Continental Philosophy Review 2017, Vol 49, 85-101.
Thomas Lemke, ‘Critique and Experience in Foucault’ in Theory, Culture and Society Vol 28 (4), 26-48.
Lois McNay, Foucault: a Critical Introduction (Polity Press, 1994).
Johanna Oksala, Foucault on Freedom (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Stuart Elden, Foucault’s Last Decade (Polity Press, 2016).
Papers from the journals Foucault Studies and Parrhesia.
The list above indicates the range of texts that may feature in the module. It is not meant to be a recommended or required book list.

What is the relation between knowledge and power? It is often said that knowledge is power. By contrast, we might think that by knowing the truth we can hold power to account. In the work of Michel Foucault, the relation is not so straightforward, and we find that power and knowledge operate together and cannot be separated. The module will introduce Foucault’s conception of power and its relation to knowledge and will explore the possibility of critique as engaged with knowledge and power to transform the conditions in which we become who we are.