Title Details: | |
Michel Foucault and militant freedom |
|
Authors: |
Kioupkiolis, Alexandros |
Reviewer: |
Sevastakis, Nikolaos |
Description: | |
Abstract: |
Chapter Six analyzes the concept of “agonistic freedom” based on the work of Michel Foucault. This conception rejects belief in necessary, immutable rules that predetermine thought and action. In contrast to negative freedom, it advocates for the investigation of the fundamental principles of behavior, along with the reflective scrutiny of unconscious forces and attachments. Second, agonistic freedom aims to cultivate the agents’ capacity to create the new and to transcend what is already established. At the same time, however, it incorporates the insights of the "critique of the subject" and renounces the fantasy of freedom as domination. The subject is inherently bounded — both internally and externally — by socio-historical structures, conscious and unconscious drives, the body, and nature. Freedom is not a state to be achieved once and for all, but a continuous struggle against its multiple constraints. Continuing the discussion of agonistic freedom begun in the previous chapters through the work of Cornelius Castoriadis, this chapter deepens the analysis by engaging with Foucault’s thought and his own approach to agonistic freedom. Foucault differs from Castoriadis, among other things, in that he develops a distinct methodology and analytic framework to understand how the subject and its experience are shaped, based on three axes. This interpretive framework, which guides him in specific historical analyses of particular experiences and forms of subjectivity, presupposes or implies a certain conception of what the subject (the individual) and society are: a being historically constituted through the interaction of discourses (systems of ideas and propositions), power relations, and practices of the self — through which individuals actively participate in their own formation. The chapter also delves into the various notions of power found in Foucault’s work — biopower, pastoral power, and others.
|
Graphic Editors: |
Bozionelos, Gavriil |
Type: |
Chapter |
Creation Date: | 2015 |
Item Details: | |
License: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/gr |
Handle | http://hdl.handle.net/11419/4816 |
Bibliographic Reference: | Kioupkiolis, A. (2015). Michel Foucault and militant freedom [Chapter]. In Kioupkiolis, A. 2015. Philosophies of freedom [Undergraduate textbook]. Kallipos, Open Academic Editions. https://hdl.handle.net/11419/4816 |
Language: |
Greek |
Is Part of: |
Philosophies of freedom |
Publication Origin: |
Kallipos, Open Academic Editions |