Abstract
In his very last, now famous, interview, Michel Foucault states that his philosophical thought was shaped by his reading of Heidegger, even though he does not specify what aspects of Heidegger’s philosophy inspired him in the first place. However, his last interview is not the only place where Foucault refers to Heidegger as his intellectual guide. In his 1981/1982 lecture course, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Foucault confesses that the way Heidegger conceptualized the relationship between subject and truth was a starting point for him for thinking about the relationship between truth, subject, subjective-transformation, and freedom. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to reconstruct the Foucault-Heidegger encounter from the perspective of subject-truth relation. I will ask how Heidegger and Foucault conceptualized the relationship between truth, self-transformation, and freedom. And I will claim that for both Foucault and Heidegger, freedom lies in constantly and creatively repeating the traditional possibilities of existence in order to question the reified patterns of interpretation, and in order to reveal the anxiety–engendering–truth that what is regarded as natural and inevitable in human life is historically contingent and transformable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dreyfus, H. (2003). ‘Being and power’ revisited. In A. Milchman & A. Rosenberg (Eds.), Foucault and Heidegger: Critical encounters (pp. 30–54). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Dreyfus, H. (2006). Heidegger on the connection between nihilism, art, technology, and politics. In C. Guignon (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Heidegger (2nd ed., pp. 345–372). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dreyfus, H. (2007). Heidegger’s ontology of art. In H. Dreyfus & M. Wrathall (Eds.), A companion to Heidegger (pp. 407–419). New York: Blackwell.
Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. London: Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. (1978). The will to knowledge: History of sexuality (Vol. I) (R. Hurley, Trans.). London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. (1980). Two lectures. In C. Gordon (Ed.), Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977 (pp. 78–108). New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Foucault, M. (1988). The return of morality. In L. Kritzman (Ed.), Politics, philosophy, culture: Interviews and other writings 1977–1984 (pp. 242–254). London: Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1989a). The end of the monarchy of sex. In S. Lotringer (Ed.), Foucault live: Interviews 1961–1984 (pp. 214–225). New York: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1989b). The impossible prison. In S. Lotringer (Ed.), Foucault live: Interviews 1961–1984 (pp. 275–286). New York: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1989c). Sexual choice, sexual act. In S. Lotringer (Ed.), Foucault live: Interviews 1961–1984 (pp. 322–334). New York: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1989d). An ethics of pleasure. In S. Lotringer (Ed.), Foucault live: Interviews 1961–1984 (pp. 371–381). New York: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1997a). On the genealogy of ethics: An overview of work in progress. In P. Rabinow (Ed.), Ethics: Subjectivity and truth (pp. 253–280). London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. (1997b). What is critique? In S. Lotringer (Ed.), The politics of truth (pp. 41–81). Los Angeles: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1997c). What is revolution? In S. Lotringer (Ed.), The politics of truth (pp. 83–95). Los Angeles: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1997d). What is enlightenment? In S. Lotringer (Ed.), The politics of truth (pp. 41–81). Los Angeles: Semiotex(e).
Foucault, M. (1998a). Nietzsche, genealogy, history. In J. Faubion (Ed.), Aesthetics, method, and epistemology (pp. 369–391). London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. (1998b). Structuralism and post-structuralism. In J. Faubion (Ed.), Aesthetics, method, and epistemology (pp. 433–458). London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. (2005). The hermeneutics of the subject (A. Davidson, Ed.) (D. Macey, Trans.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault, M. (2007). Security, territory, population (A. Davidson, Ed.) (G. Burchell, Trans.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Guignon, C. (1983). Heidegger and the problem of knowledge. Indiana: Hackett Publishing.
Guignon, C. (1984). Heidegger’s “authenticity” revisited. Review of Metaphysics, 38, 321–339.
Guignon, C. (2011). Heidegger’s concept of freedom, 1927–1930. In D. Dahlstrom (Ed.), Interpreting Heidegger: Critical essays (pp. 79–105). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
Heidegger, M. (1966). Discourse on thinking (J. Anderson & E. Freund). New York: Harper & Row.
Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology. In J. Stambaugh (Ed.), The question concerning technology and other essays (pp. 3–35). New York: Harper & Row.
Heidegger, M. (1984). The metaphysical foundations of logic (M. Heim, Trans.). Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1993a). What is metaphysics? In D. F. Krell (Ed.), Basic writings (pp. 89–110). New York: Harper Perennial Publishing.
Heidegger, M. (1993b). The origin of the work of art. In D. F. Krell (Ed.), Basic writings (pp. 139–212). New York: Harper Perennial Publishing.
Heidegger, M. (1994). Basic questions of philosophy: Selected “problems” of logic (R. Rojcewicz & A. Schuwer, Trans.). Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Heidegger, M. (2000). Introduction to metaphysics (G. Fried & R. Polt, Trans.). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Heidegger, M. (2002). The essence of truth: On Plato’s parable of the cave and the Theaetetus (T. Sadler, Trans.). New York: Continuum.
Heidegger, M. (2005). The essence of human freedom (T. Sadler, Trans.). New York: Continuum.
Heidegger, M. (2012). Contributions to philosophy: Of the event (R. Rojcewicz & D. Vallega-Neu, Trans.). Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Löwith, K. (1994). My life in Germany before and after 1933 (E. King, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rouse, J. (2005). Power/knowledge. In G. Gutting (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Foucault (2nd ed., pp. 95–122). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thiele, L. P. (2003). The ethics and politics of narrative: Heidegger + Foucault. In A. Milchman & A. Rosenberg (Eds.), Foucault and Heidegger: Critical encounters (pp. 206–234). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
I thank Charles Guignon, Ofelia Schutte, Stephen Turner, Kevin Aho, and David Cheely for their comments on earlier versions of this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karademir, A. Heidegger and Foucault: On the Relation Between the Anxiety–Engendering–Truth and Being-Towards-Freedom . Hum Stud 36, 375–392 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-013-9288-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-013-9288-7