From Foucault to Papadopoulos

The second TDG meeting took place on Wednesday. Many thanks to everyone who showed up for the inspiring discussion.

The last chapter of Foucault’s “Order of things” was quiet challenging, but we managed to get some interesting ideas out of it. Like for example that the “modern episteme” we are in is not universal, and that a new epochal re-configuration of knowledge is not only possible, but, according to Foucault, is already taking place. Indeed for him knowledge is being re-unified under the structural supremacy of language/discourse. However, this reunification operates as a closure of the specific intellectual space opened in the modern era by the invention of man as “what needs to be conceived and known”. In this space, which is essentially a space of conscious as well as unconscious representation, human sciences found their ‘precarious’ homeland.

Is this closure the source of the intellectual crisis we all feel is affecting the academia, and especially the field of social sciences? This is difficult to say, but it could definitely play an important role. Indeed we argued that despite the emphasis consensually given to its creative potentialities, language/discourse has become increasingly normative - to the extent that every aspect of human subjectivity tends to be submitted to it. This is confirmed by the mounting bureaucratization, by the primacy of form over content, by the standardization/quantification of knowledge, but also by the ambiguous way in which some fashionable concepts are used to shape realities. Ishwari, for example, made a point about the political function the word ‘empowerment’ plays when referred to certain communities in rural India.

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TDG is an informal, autonomous, student-lead intellectual space where original outcomes of contemporary philosophy are discussed, with a special emphasis on ‘continental’ thinkers. While researching new possible articulations between philosophy and social sciences, students’ own projects and experiences are considered as being part of the discussion. Through sharing knowledge and ideas as well as the eventual intervention of guests coming from other institutes, TDG establishes itself as a new intellectual platform, open to the participation of all postgraduate students.

Next TDG session is scheduled for the 25^th of March at 12

We still do not have a venue but Stephen is working on it.

Proposed reading is “In the ruins of representation: Identity, individuality, subjectification” by Dimitris Papadopoulos (School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK). If you can not find it, just drop an email to alessandro.zagato@gmail.com 

Abstarct:

This paper explores a threefold shift in our understanding of identity formation and self-relationality: from an essentialist understanding of identity, to discursive and

constructivist approaches, to, finally, the notion of embodied subjectification. The main target of this paper is to historicize these ideas and to localize them in the current social and political conditions of North-Atlantic societies. The core argument is that these three steps in reformulating the concept of identity correspond to an emerging form of subjectivity, affirmative subjectivity, which is bound to the proliferation of the post-Fordist reorganization of the social and political realm. The three theoretical shifts and their social situatedness will be illustrated through a rereading of some ideas from Lev S. Vygotsky’s late theory, Michel Foucault’s account of government and Jacques Ranciere’s political philosophy.

Every one who wants to participate should read the suggested paper and prepare a few questions/reflections in order to discuss them with the other students during the session.

Enjoy your reading, and see you at the next TDG meeting

Alessandro