In certain NLUs Foucault is considered a god by left-wing professors and students are indoctrinated in his writings. But should NLUs now ban him from the syllabus? Foucault's Wikipedia page say that he once campaigned for legalising "consensual" sex between adults and minors.
The Times report describes Foucault as "a beacon of today’s 'woke' ideology".
John Stuart Mill - father of libertarian thought/the source of right wing economics - wrote about societies fundamentally barbaric that deserve no freedoms till they can be brought to deserve it by other more advanced societies. This was one of the justifications for colonialism. He is taught in law schools too. Should we ban him with Foucault?
The point about theory and theorists is that they all have limitations. Sometimes massive ones. You hold onto one till it s you but not beyond.
Hope that (second para, first is probably unnecessarily snappy) puts things in perspective.
Are you crazy? What are you comparing what with? Mill's theory of democracy versus Foucault's advocacy (and alleged practice) of raping you children? And BTW it allegedly happened to children in Tunisia, so naked racism there. White man goes to Arab country and abuses his privilege.
Are your dense? He is comparing support for: 1. consensual relations between adults and minors (with racial undertones), with 2. Colonialism/racism.
His point is both are bad. And as others below have also commented, he is saying that both people can be deplored for these views while still being read for their other ideas.
Doesn't this Foucault controversy start the same debate as the 'art v. artist' argument? In the sense, should we separate and appreciate the art from the otherwise controversial artist and their personal life etc.?
A big difference here. Foucault's "art" itself called for the legalisation of child sexual abuse and he himself was a child sexual abuser (according to the news reports).
I concur with your disgust on CSA but French cultural attitude to pedophilia has always been on a different tangent compared to the rest of the world. If recent events are any indication, I think this blasé attitude to the issue is in for its own moment of reckoning, especially in French society.
Foucault is no required to be taught under the BCI syllabus. Only traditionally left wing law schools like NLSIU NALSAR, NUJS, NLUD and JGLS teach Foucault. The traditionally right wing law schools like NLUJ, NLIU GNLU, HNLU and RMLNLU do not teach it.
Wonderful idea! Let's also ban all the ancient Greeks like Plato and Socrates and the rest because they were pedophiles.
This post seems like a troll post by someone unsubtly trying to create a perceived hypocrisy in whatever is called 'cancel culture' and to imply that that so called 'liberals' do not apply it equally to 'liberal' thinkers.
1. Foucault will continue to be an influential philosopher for his ideas but if he is taught then the new reports should add context to the study and also enable personal criticism of him and French societal mores and movements around that time.
2. If Foucalt was alive, he would have long been metoo'd and fired from where he was teaching and lost publishing contracts and not be invited to lectures. That's cancel culture in action: it sounds like you would support this?
3. I think the only reason not to teach people's ideas in universities is if their very ideas themselves are odious or lack intellectual rigour. Such as Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, which has no academic merit or value except to historians, sociologists and Nazis.
Plato and Socrates were never paedos. Fake news. Difference also between a situation where a law bans in and allows it. Ridiculous to compare ancient times with modern times.
Lol, I had to Google who this Jordan Peterson guy is. He sounds like some YouTube influencer who has also written some books that conservatives love because he is a Christian and makes incels the victims and doesn't like political correctness. Unlike Focault, he is not dead, so he'd be a lot easier to cancel. I would also be interested if there are any academics or courses (besides mass media studies) that have any of his writings on their curriculum?
I'm also interested - you do know that most of the targets of metoo / cancel culture have been liberals cancelling other liberals, like the Harvey Weinsteins and Kevin Spaceys. The right wingers, like the Donald Trumps, usually get away unscathed and uncancelled.
This is so half baked it is too hilarious. How can you even 'cancel' a dead guy? The whole point of cancelling is to stop a harasser from exploiting their position to harass people and not wanting to give them platforms on which to air harassing or anti-human views. How is reading this guy's books going to turn people into paedophiles or do any possible harm?
And how exactly do you propose 'cancelling' Focault? Burning his books in a big bonfire?
I do not identify as leftist, but I do happen to still support teaching his theories just like that of others. Of course, I do not believe that a truly horrible man in his personal life cannot produce good theories. At the same time, I do not support 'worshipping' anybody because of any theory that they might have propounded.
Not defending CSA, but we must note the following:
- Legal and moral standards of the past were very different. In the 1800s, people like Tagore and Gandhi married minors. It was legal at the time.
- The evidence against Foucault is hearsay evidence. DNA or electronic evidence are missing.
- Only RW social media accounts are tweeting the Foucault revelations. The Times UK is a RW newspaper. The RW have a vested interest in cancelling Foucault.
- As previous comments have said, an artist and his art are different.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/french-philosopher-michel-foucault-abused-boys-in-tunisia-6t5sj7jvw
In certain NLUs Foucault is considered a god by left-wing professors and students are indoctrinated in his writings. But should NLUs now ban him from the syllabus? Foucault's Wikipedia page say that he once campaigned for legalising "consensual" sex between adults and minors.
The Times report describes Foucault as "a beacon of today’s 'woke' ideology".
The point about theory and theorists is that they all have limitations. Sometimes massive ones. You hold onto one till it s you but not beyond.
Hope that (second para, first is probably unnecessarily snappy) puts things in perspective.
1. consensual relations between adults and minors (with racial undertones), with
2. Colonialism/racism.
His point is both are bad. And as others below have also commented, he is saying that both people can be deplored for these views while still being read for their other ideas.
This post seems like a troll post by someone unsubtly trying to create a perceived hypocrisy in whatever is called 'cancel culture' and to imply that that so called 'liberals' do not apply it equally to 'liberal' thinkers.
1. Foucault will continue to be an influential philosopher for his ideas but if he is taught then the new reports should add context to the study and also enable personal criticism of him and French societal mores and movements around that time.
2. If Foucalt was alive, he would have long been metoo'd and fired from where he was teaching and lost publishing contracts and not be invited to lectures. That's cancel culture in action: it sounds like you would support this?
3. I think the only reason not to teach people's ideas in universities is if their very ideas themselves are odious or lack intellectual rigour. Such as Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, which has no academic merit or value except to historians, sociologists and Nazis.
I'm also interested - you do know that most of the targets of metoo / cancel culture have been liberals cancelling other liberals, like the Harvey Weinsteins and Kevin Spaceys. The right wingers, like the Donald Trumps, usually get away unscathed and uncancelled.
And how exactly do you propose 'cancelling' Focault? Burning his books in a big bonfire?
- Legal and moral standards of the past were very different. In the 1800s, people like Tagore and Gandhi married minors. It was legal at the time.
- The evidence against Foucault is hearsay evidence. DNA or electronic evidence are missing.
- Only RW social media accounts are tweeting the Foucault revelations. The Times UK is a RW newspaper. The RW have a vested interest in cancelling Foucault.
- As previous comments have said, an artist and his art are different.