Subjectivity,Reflection and Freedom in Later Foucault

Abstract

This paper proposes a new reading of the interaction between subjectivity, reflection and freedom within Foucault’s later work. I begin by introducing three approaches to subjectivity, locating these in relation both to Foucault’s texts and to the recent literature. I suggest that Foucault himself operates within what I call the ‘entanglement approach’, and, as such, he faces a potentially serious challenge, a challenge forcefully articulated by Han. Using Kant’s treatment of reflection as a point of comparison, I argue that Foucault possesses the resources to meet this challenge. The key, I contend, is to distinguish two related theses about reflection and freedom: Foucault’s position is distinctive precisely because he accepts one of these theses whilst rejecting the other. I conclude by indicating how this reading might connect to the longstanding question of Foucault’s own right to appeal to normative standards.     

被自由误导的自由

本文主要分析了自由以及表现为权利自由的政治哲学问题,其中着重批评了伯林的两种自由模式,试图论证,不自由切割为两种,将导致对自由的各种误解。所谓消极自由和积极自由只是同一种自由的两面,但伯林问题可以转换为消极权利和积极权利问题,这样就可以消除混乱。     

关于现代精神的道德反思

现代化既具有创造性又具有破坏性 ,人类走入生存困境 ,这已是一种共识。人类社会如何既能发展现代化又能有效地避免现代化的弊端 ?这是现代人所不可回避的问题。这一问题的解决离不开对现代精神的反思 ,本文从道德的角度思考了现代精神的基本特征 :一是物欲的盛行 ,二是主体的膨胀 ,三是超越者的丢失 ,四是精神的放逐。而现代精神从最深层的意义上讲是无根的 ,因此 ,人类要走出困境就必须在更高的层次上实现精神的回复 ,去重新发现能够给人类存在赋予意义的合理的精神基础     

God and Freedom: A Discussion

'If there is no logical impossibility in a man's freely choosing the good on one, or on several occasions, there cannot be a logical impossibility in his freely choosing the good on every occasion. God was not, then, faced with a choice between making innocent automata and making beings who, in acting freely, would sometimes go wrong: there was open to him the obviously better possibility of making beings who would act freely but always go right. Clearly, his failure to avail himself of this possibility is inconsistent with his being both omnipotent and wholly good'.     

劳动价值理论反思

本文着重分析劳动价值论的理论缺陷 :价值概念的不合情理 ;理论逻辑不清 ;交换价值和价格理论不够全面、准确 ,对现实的价格运动不具指导意义。同时针对理论界的一些争论 ,诸如物化劳动、管理劳动、服务劳动是否创造价值等问题作了说明。最后 ,对价值理论的创新提出了一些思考和建议     

身体美学的启迪与反思

舒斯特曼提出来的“身体美学”日渐得到人们的重视。利用传统中国哲学和中国医学中所包含的身心一元论思想指导下的身体观来说明身体美学的可能性和重要意义,思考有中国文化特色的身体美学的一个重要特点及其对于当前流行的美容实践的启迪。     

A Theological Reflection on Torture and Democracy

Abstract : First, I summarize the major findings of a new comprehensive resource, Torture and Democracy, by Darius Rejali, as corrective for the current state of confusion and concealment in United States with regard to the persistence of torture. Second, I respond theologically to the insights from this scholarship through a) reflection on victims of torture as ‘nonpersons’ in light of theological anthropology, and through exploring the role of Christians in the public square, and b) addressing the problem of sacrificialism.     

Nietzsche on Art and Freedom

There are passages in Nietzsche that can be read as contributions to the free will/determinism debate. When read in that way, they reveal a fairly amateurish metaphysician with little of real substance or novelty to contribute; and if these readings were apt or perspicuous, it seems to me, they would show that Nietzsche's thoughts about freedom were barely worth pausing over. They would simply confirm the impression—amply bolstered from other quarters—that Nietzsche was not at his best when addressing the staple questions of philosophy. But these readings sell Nietzsche short. He had next to no systematic interest in metaphysics, and his concern with the question of freedom was not motivated by metaphysical considerations. Rather—and as with all of Nietzsche's concerns—his motivations were ethical. He was interested, not in the relation of the human will to the causal order of nature, but in the relation between freedom and the good life, between the will and exemplary human living. Read from this perspective, Nietzsche's remarks about freedom actually add up to something. And what they add up to is one aspect of his attempt to understand life after the model of art. Beauty, for Kant, was an image of the moral. ¹ For Nietzsche, by contrast—and the contrast can be hard to spell out—art was an image of the ethical. ² My hope here is to begin to explain why Nietzsche might have thought that the issue of freedom was relevant to that. In sections 1–3, I attempt to show why Nietzsche is not best read as a participant in the standard free will/determinism debate; in sections 4–6, I try to spell out the ethical conception of freedom that he develops instead.