Abstract
In this paper I argue that the social constructionist view found in Foucault's work does not condemn one to a deterministic portrait of the 'self.' Attention to the early and late writings allows one to articulate a weak notion of autonomy even under the heavy-handed descriptions found in Foucault's early work. By recognizing autonomy as a public task, and not as a notion of freedom relegated to particular individuals, one is entitled to view autonomy as present in Foucault's work - and not merely in those writings dedicated to the 'techniques of the self.' Far from emphasizing practices of freedom, I demonstrate that we need not always think of autonomy as contained in necessary 0resistance. It is this that permits reading autonomy as a product of social construction, and not an objection to it.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bell, Vicky. “The Promise of Liberalism and the Performance of Freedom.” In Foucault and Political Reason, ed. A. Barry, T. Osborne, and N. Rose (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
Dreyfus, Hubert L., and Paul Rabinow. Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, BSH (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
Falzon, Christopher. Foucault and Social Dialogue, FS, (New York: Routledge Press, 1995).
Foucault, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge, AK, tr. A.M. Sheridan (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972).
Foucault, Michel. “The Confession of the Flesh,” CF, tr. Colin Gordon, et. al. In Power/ Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977, ed. Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), pp. 194–229.
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. I. An Introduction, HS, tr. Robert Hurley, (New York: Vintage Books, 1990).
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. II. The Use of Pleasure, UP, tr. Robert Hurley, (New York: Vintage Books, 1990).
Foucault, Michel. “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History,” FR. In The Foucault Reader, ed. Paul Rabinow, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pp. 76–100.
Foucault, Michel. “On the Genealogy of Ethics.” In Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, ed. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
Foucault, Michel. “Power and Strategies,” PS, tr. Colin Gordon, et al. In Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977, ed. Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), pp. 134–146.
Foucault, Michel. “The Subject and Power,” SP. In Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, ed. Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
Foucault, Michel. “Truth and Power,” FR, trans. Colin Gordon, et. al. In The Foucault Reader, ed. Paul Rabinow, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pp. 51–75.
Foucault, Michel. “What is Enlightenment?,” WE. In The Foucault Reader, ed. Paul Rabinow, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pp. 32–50.
Hoy, David C. “Power, Repression, Progress: Foucault, Lukes, and the Franfurt School.” In Foucault: A Critical Reader, ed. D.C. Hoy, (Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1986), pp. 123–148.
Kant, Immanuel. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, tr. Lewis White Beck, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985).
Rorty, Richard. Contingency, irony and solidarity, CIS, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
Simons, Jon. Foucault and the Political, FP, (New York: Routledge Press, 1998).
Taylor, Charles. “Foucault on Freedom and Truth,” FT. In Foucault: A Critical Reader, ed. D.C. Hoy, (Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1986), pp. 69–102.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wisnewski, J. Foucault and public autonomy. Continental Philosophy Review 33, 417–439 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026465920567
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026465920567