Foucault and Autonomy

Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 96 (3):277-290 (2010)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper, I argue against Mark Bevir’s contention that Foucault is committed to reject autonomy but affirms agency. I argue that Bevir’s claim is extravagant, that (a) Foucault need not reject autonomy, and (b) the rejection of autonomy flies in the face of the emphasis Foucault placed on autonomy in his late work. Central to my argument is the distinction between autonomy as self-sufficiency and autonomy as self-rule. By deploying Harry Frankfurt’s structural account of identification, I show that Foucault’s discussion of autonomy in his late work is best understood as self-rule. Such an interpretation has the virtue of not adopting the counter-intuitive view that Foucault is committed to reject autonomy. By way of conclusion, I explore how such a concept of autonomy as self-rule figures in Foucault’s project of self-formation in his late work.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Foucault and public autonomy.Jeremy Wisnewski - 2000 - Continental Philosophy Review 33 (4):417-439.
Foucault and Left Conservatism.Jeremy Moss - 2004 - Foucault Studies 1:32-52.
Foucault, educational research and the issue of autonomy.Mark Olssen - 2005 - Educational Philosophy and Theory 37 (3):365–387.
The Politics of Radical Autonomy: Foucault's Political Anthropology.Jae-Jung Rhee - 2001 - Dissertation, University of Southern California
Autonomy, consent and the law.Sheila McLean - 2010 - New York, N.Y.: Routledge-Cavendish.
How to Distinguish Autonomy from Integrity.Carolyn McLeod - 2005 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 35 (1):107 - 134.
O Foucault de Richard Rorty.Thiago Costa Santos Carrilho Siqueira - 2013 - Cadernos Do Pet Filosofia 4 (8):84-89.
Paternalism in the Name of Autonomy.Manne Sjöstrand, Stefan Eriksson, Niklas Juth & Gert Helgesson - 2013 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 38 (6):jht049.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-02-05

Downloads
9 (#1,080,087)

6 months
6 (#203,358)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references