PHIL 380:01 Special Topics in Philosophy
Sex,
Crime, and Knowledge:
The Work of Michel Foucault
Fall, 2002
Dr. McWhorter
Click here for information
on assignments and grading.
Click here for a list of useful Foucault
Links.
The following books will be available for purchase
in the University Bookstore:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1
Foucault, Power: Essential Works of Michel Foucault, Vol. III
Foucault, Ethics, Subjectivity and Truth: Essential Works
of Michel Foucault, Vol. I
Foucault, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Essays,
1972-1977
Foucault, The Use of Pleasure
August 27:
Introduction to the Course.
August 29:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, 1-35.
September 3:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, 36-73;
Precis Due!
September 5:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, 77-131.
September 10:
Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, 135-159
and Foucault, "The History of Sexuality," in Power/Knowledge,
183-93.
September 12:
NO CLASS: Dr. McWhorter will be the guest of the Cultural
Studies Colloquium at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA,
which will consist of a presentation and discussion of her book
Bodies and Pleasures: Foucault and the Politics of Sexual Normalization.
Foucault students are invited to attend. (ROAD TRIP!)
September 17:
Foucault, "Confession of the Flesh," in Power/Knowledge,
194-228. By this day, students must choose a group to work
in for the rest of the semester. There will be four groups, one
of each of the following topics: (1) Reception of Foucault by
American Left, (2) Reception of Foucault by American Feminist
Theorists, (3) Reception of Foucault by American Queer Theorists,
and (4) Reception of Foucault by American Continental Philosophers.
There can be no more than six students per group. For more on
this assignment, check the assignments
page.
September 19:
Group Meetings. Class
will meet in Boatwright Library Computer Classroom.
September 24:
Foucault, "Truth and Juridical Forms," in Power:
Essential Writings III, 1-16; First
Annotation Due!
September 26:
Foucault, "Truth and Juridical Forms," in Power,
16-52.
October 1:
Foucault, "Truth and Juridical Forms," in Power,
52-87. Students may want to supplement this reading with more
on Jeremy Bentham's panopticon in Foucault, "The Eye of Power,"
in Power/Knowledge, . Second
Annotation Due!
October 3:
Foucault, "On the Concept of the Dangerous Individual
in Nineteenth-Century Psychiatric Discourse," in Power,
176-200, and Foucault, "Questions of Method," in Power,
223-233. Third Annotation
and Full Bibliography Due!
October 8:
Group Meetings.
The reading assignment for the day consists of the annotations
and bibliographies of fellow group members.
October 10:
Exam!
October 15:
NO CLASS: Fall Break! (Also Foucault's birthday, so celebrate
appropriately.)
October 17:
Foucault, "Two Lectures," in Power/Knowledge,
78-108.
October 22:
Foucault, "The Subject and Power," in Power,
326-48.
October 24:
Foucault, "Sexuality and Solitude," in Ethics,
Subjectivity and Truth, 175-84, and Foucault, "Technologies
of the Self," in Ethics,
Subjectivity and Truth, 223-51. Book
Review Due!
October 29:
Foucault, "On the Genealogy of Ethics," in Ethics,
Subjectivity, and Truth, 253-80.
October 31:
Group Meetings.
The reading assignment for this day consists in the book reviews
of fellow group members.
November 5:
Foucault, "Ethics of Concern for Self as a Practice
of Freedom," in Ethics, Subjectivity and Truth, 281-301.
Term Paper Topics
Due!
November 7:
Foucault, "Introduction to The History of Sexuality,
Vol. 2," in Ethics, Subjectivity, and Truth, 199-205,
and Foucault, The Use of Pleasure, 3-93.
November 12:
Foucault, The Use of Pleasure, 97-184.
November 14:
Foucault, The Use of Pleasure, 187-254. Proposed
reading assignments for the class for group
presentation days due!
November 19:
Group Presentations
from American Left. Reading assignment is one article: "Foucault
on Freedom and Truth."
November 21:
Group Presentations
from Queer Theorists. Reading assignments are two articles: "Foucault:
Virgin or Saint" and "Desiring
Foucault." Term
Paper Bibliographies Due!
November 26:
Foucault, "Friendship as a Way of Life" and
"Sex, Power, and the Politics of Identity," in Ethics,
Subjectivity, and Truth, 135-40 and 163-73 respectively.
November 28:
NO CLASS: Thanksgiving!
December 3:
Foucault, "What
is Enlightenment?" (available online in both English
and French)
and in Ethics, Subjectivity, and Truth, 303-19. You may
also want to listen to Foucault present his paper "The
Culture of the Self" as a related piece of work. It is
in English and runs just over one hour. Refined
thesis and outline due!
December 5:
Wrap Up Day.
December 13:
Term Paper
Due by 2:00!