Editor's Introduction: Passivity as Necessary Condition for Ethical Agency?
Radical Passivity, Jan 1, 2009
Starting with a radical passivity of the subjectivity, our analysis has come to the notion of re... more Starting with a radical passivity of the subjectivity, our analysis has come to the notion of responsibility overflowing freedom(whereas freedom alone should have been able to justify and limit responsibilities), an obedience prior to the reception of orders. Starting ...
Book Review: Review of Andrea Hurst," Derrida Vis-à-vis Lacan. Interweaving Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis
South African Journal of Philosophy, Jan 1, 2009
The contemporary pertinence of the Later Foucault. Have his strategies in resistance stood the test of time?
This article forms part of an ongoing investigation into and research on the dynamics, culture an... more This article forms part of an ongoing investigation into and research on the dynamics, culture and forms of subjectivity of neo-liberalism. Seen through the lens of French philosopher Michel Foucault's analyses of neo-liberalism as a form of governmentality, neo-liberalism emerges as a political programme intent on subjecting the political sphere -along with every other dimension of contemporary existence -to an economic rationality. The focus of this article is on the impact on conditions of work and subjectivity of an economic rationality that has become the dominant political programme. In other words, Foucault's analyses of neo-liberalism as a particular historical form of power called "governmentality" facilitate a critical understanding of the post-industrial culture of work and the concomitant mechanisms of subject-formation in the contemporary West. Like most concepts in Foucault's diagnostic toolkit, governmentality is an analytical notion closely linked to changing historical rationalities of power, rather than a rigid descriptive mechanism that establishes one rationality of governing once and for all, that is the same for all times and places, and that infuses political orders in predictable, regular and uniform ways. It is my contention that Foucault's analyses of neo-liberalism of the late 70s remain instructive and relevant to reach a critical appreciation of neoliberalism as a particular form of power that infuses the formation of culture and subjectivity in the present. This article utilises a historical approach in which one epoch, notion or governing rationality is understood in terms of that which precedes it, acknowledging some continuity while respecting and reflecting on discontinuity and differences. More specifically, I explore the post-industrial culture of work in terms of the Phronimon, Vol 12(2) 2011 20 preceding industrial age; biopower in terms of the preceding notion of disciplinary power; and neo-liberal governmentality in terms of the preceding liberal governing rationality. By way of an introduction and contextualisation of the problematics, I first outline the differences between the industrial and post-industrial paradigms of work from a sociological perspective (sections 2-4), before moving on to Foucault's analyses of (neo)liberal governmentality (sections 5-6).
In our present-day Western society, there has been an increasing tendency towards individualism a... more In our present-day Western society, there has been an increasing tendency towards individualism and indifference and away from altruism and empathy. This has led to a resurgence of ethical concern s in contemporary Continental philosophy. Following the ...
Radical passivity: Ethical problem of solution? A preliminary investigation
South African Journal of Philosophy, Jan 1, 2007
Isn't art an activity that gives things a face?" Levinas on the power of art
Levinas on the power of art', Image & Narrative, Jan 1, 2007
Abstract (E): French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's thinking on art goes to the very... more Abstract (E): French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's thinking on art goes to the very heart of the debate concerning the possibility of" thinking (or expressing/expressive) pictures". Knowing whether or not art can give things a face would enable us to ascertain whether ...
Radical passivity: rethinking ethical agency in levinas
The notion of radical passivity undoubtedly constitutes the burning question in the thought of Fr... more The notion of radical passivity undoubtedly constitutes the burning question in the thought of French philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas. Committed to the claim that egoism and freedom cannot give birth to generosity, Levinas presents radical passivity as a necessary ...
In this paper, I attempt to contextualise the question regarding the public role of the academic ... more In this paper, I attempt to contextualise the question regarding the public role of the academic as intellectual in terms of the present, global, neo-liberal "govern-mentality". With the aid of thinkers such as Bourdieu, Foucault, Sennett, Arendt, but also social geographer, David Harvey, it becomes clear that neoliberalism radically attenuates the individual's capacity to enter the public sphere. This incapacitation leads to the inevitable depoliticisation of intellectual labour through the increasing individualisation of the self, on the one hand, and the rampant privatisation of the public, on the other hand. This is explained by laying bare the corrosive impact and pervasive nature of neoliberalism. Foucault and Bourdieu nevertheless believe in the possibility of resistance, which they locate in the individual and in his/her capacity as politicised intellectual. However, the repoliticisation of intellectuals and their role in the political sphere presupposes a more fundamental recovery of the public sphere. The tactical question regarding the possibilities of and means to resistance is therefore rooted in the ontological question regarding the freedom of the self that comes into being in the social space between the self and the other. In the final analysis, the thought of Levinas is used to argue that fidelity to the self is not realised through the pursuit of limitless freedom (although our freedom is undeniably at stake), but in the social dimension, which enables the self -via the other -to re-enter the public and eventually the political sphere.
The power not to be (what we are): The politics and ethics of self-creation in Foucault
Journal of moral philosophy, Jan 1, 2006
Abstract: To some extent, Foucault's later works on ethics provides an opportunity t... more Abstract: To some extent, Foucault's later works on ethics provides an opportunity to go beyond some of the controversies generated by his work of the 1970s. It was thought, for example, that Foucault had overstated the extent to which individuals could besubjected'to ...
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