Pekka, Man, We Need to Cure You of This (A Focault Filosofy Thread)

[cinch]

to Pekka. Voice of moderation in this thread.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I think I need a picture of Foucault in avatar size (100*100 for me). As GePap already has Nietzsche and I like Foucault better than Derrida.

[Ecthy]

I need that monster pig as an avatar.

[Meticulous Man]

I think I have some kind of a general idea of what Foucault is about, however, though I have "Madness and Civilization" and "Discipline and Punish" in my bookshelf, Foucault's style is so dense that I have never gotten past the first chapters...

[Ecthy]

What do you mean, "dense style"? That it takes half an hour to read 2 pages because you have to read it over and over again to really grasp what he's on about? Remind me of some book on the Franks that I have. The author's essays on the administration and taxation system of the early Pippinides are HORRIBLE.

[Meticulous Man]

That it takes half an hour to read 2 pages because you have to read it over and over again to really grasp what he's on about?

Exactly.

[Ecthy]

I have Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit here, in German... it's un-possible!

[Pekka]

Yeah, it is a difficult read. But over the time it gets easier as some of the concepts are more familiar to the reader.

Then again, these concepts also have a tendency to change, depending what year it is. I guess a better description is that the concepts develop, so you can't for example read the books from first to last without some serious gaps. Those gaps are filled in articles etc. written between two books or so. If one really wants to get into it, it's huge work, but for some people it is rewarding work. I recommend joining a Foucault reading group and actively discussing about the stuff, because there's stuff that other people got better than you did, so it might help you as well.

[Ecthy]

A year ago I was quite cynical about modern day philosophy. Today I'm not