Michel Foucault- Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics

by Hubert L. Dreyfus

In preparing this edition, Dreyfus and Rabinow added not only the interview with Foucalt - "On the Genealogy of An Overview of Work in Progress" - but also a new chapter on the books Foucalt was working on at the two more planned volumes of The History of Sexuality and a third book, Le Souci de soi , that was to analyze the great attention paid by the ancient world to the care of the self. Foucault himself wrote at the time that this book "presents a very clear and intelligent analysis of the work that I have attempted to do. Resolving many misunderstandings, it offers an accurate, synthetic view... Beyond its particular goal, I believe this work opens new horizons for the relations between American and European thought."

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, Sociology, History, Anthropology, Literary Criticism

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Hubert Lederer Dreyfus was professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where his interests include phenomenology, existentialism, the philosophy of psychology and literature, and the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence.

Reviews

[Elmira Bahmani · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب نزدیک به بیست سال پیش به فارسی ترجمه شد، زمانی که هنوز اصطلاحات فوکویی چندان به فارسی شناخته شده نبودند و طبعا خواننده امروزی که مدتیه با این اصطلاحات آشناست در ابتدا از ترجمه‌ی بشیریه کمی گیج میشه.
اما مساله‌ی اصلی من با ترجمه‌ی این کتاب، بخش مربوط به بنیان‌های فلسفی دیرینه‌شناسی فوکو بود. به نظرم مترجم در نهایت بی‌مسئولیتی و بی‌حوصلگی این بخش‌ها رو ترجمه کرده و من تمام مدت نگاهی به متن انگلیسی کتاب داشتم تا جملات خیلی خیلی ساده‌ای که بیهوده پیچیده شده بود رو بفهمم!
مترجم شاهکار دیگه‌ای هم داشت.مثلا این که بعد از اشاره ی متن به مارکی دو ساد مترجم پانویس کرده بود: مارکی دوساد نویسنده‌ی آثار عشقی و احساسی است!
مساله ی ناراحت کننده اینجاست که این خزعبلات بعد از بیست سال و بعد از ده‌ها بار تجدید چاپ کتابی که یکی از مهم‌ترین شرح‌ها بر اندیشه‌ی فوکوست، ویرایش نشده.
از ترجمه که بگذریم، کتاب مفید و مهمی بود و متون خارجی اغلب پیشنهاد میکنن این کتاب رو قبل از مطالعه‌ی آثار فوکو بخونیم. من فکر میکردم بعد از مطالعه‌ی 3 شرح بر و 4 کتاب از فوکو به راحتی این کتاب رو میخونم و میفهمم. اما خب همونطور که گفتم بخش‌هایی از کتاب (مثل تاثیر پدیدارشناسی بر فوکو) که باقی متون فارسی کمتر بهش پرداخته بودن و واقعا مهم بود، اینجا خیلی بد و نامفهوم ترجمه شده بود و برای همین خوندنش خیلی طول کشید.
شاید میشد به کتاب 5 ستاره داد اما با توجه به اینکه بخشیش رو درست متوجه نشدم بهتره به چهارستاره قناعت کنم.

[Yaniv · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no better book to understand Foucault's oeuvre and methodology.

The authors had the unique vantage point of being personally acquainted with Foucault, who delivered a set of lectures at the University of California Berkeley during the early 1980s. The text is the result of the debates that Rabinow had with Dreyfus and Searle over whether Foucault's work was closer to structuralism or hermeneutics. The conclusion is neither. Foucault's "interpretive analytics," as the authors call his method of discourse analysis, begins with archeology in the late 1960s and early 1970s and traverses genealogy in his later work in the mid 1970s to early 1980s.

Despite its clarity and sound arguments, I wouldn't recommend reading this before reading Foucault's work first. Inevitably, the reader will feel confused or dazzled by Foucault's prose. But part of the process of engaging with Foucault is understanding the radical departure of his method from traditional philosophy and historical research. Once the reader has read a book or two (preferably Discipline and Punish or the History of Sexuality), then I would recommend checking this out (especially chapter 5) for further clarity and elucidation.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the top two secondary texts on Foucault I've ever read. The other being Deleuze's book entitled, Foucault. Dreyfus reveals the depth and grandeur of Foucault's body of work by revealing all of the intellectual threads that run through each and every book. He goes in chronological order to reaveal that Foucault was always thinking as a Post-Structuralist. Dreyfus can actually write about complex issues in an easy to read manner, which is refreshing.

[Mike Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely useful. It is mainly reviews his books and not his lectures (which many were published after this book). I would recommend this for anyone that has already read a couple of Foucault's books and need to connect the dots a little better. Then, if you are like me, you will want to re-read his work looking for all the stuff you missed the first time but figured out with the help of this overview.

This book would also work as a crash course in Foucauldian methodology, as the title suggests--all the "main" things you should know about his work. Overall, best book on Foucault that I have read.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this book years ago in an effort to understand Foucault. I haven't been interested in Foucault for some time, but recently I agreed to give a presentation about him and returned to this book . It is not a biography or a synopsis. It is a rigorous attempt to come to terms with Foucault's intellectual trajectory and his often confusing way of presenting his ideas. For someone like myself who is only superficially familiar with 'continental philosophy' this book is very helpful for providing clear descriptions of the intellectual background to Foucault's work.

[Amin Razavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreyfus has DIGESTED the Foucault for you. I can't Imagine if there would be any such analytic thorough text on Foucault out there!
I understood Foucault in the book as well as the way of studying any other philosopher.

[Sherwin]

the best book for starting Foucault.

[Seth]

just read Foucault he's not that hard

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from the University Library.

It has been a while since I've read anything related to Foucault's work, probably three or so years so I picked up this secondary text surrounding his works in the hopes it would ease me back in. This is a well written and concise summary and viewpoint of Foucault's works and presented in a readable and enjoyable manner. I got good insight from this book and I am happy to further my reading now.

[Chant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of all French intellectuals/structuralists/post-structuralists/etc, Foucault certainly is far more interesting when compared to his contemporaries.

Dreyfus and Rabinow help make clear Foucault's project-object and for the most part, I found it an enjoyable read! Now does that mean I will do a deep dive into Foucault's proper works? Probably not, at least not any time soon.

[خرس · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب میشل فوکو / فراسوی ساختگرایی و هرمنوتیک / نوشته هیوبرت دریفوس و پل رابینو / با ترجمه خوب و مقدمه خوب تر حسین بشیریه / کتابی خواندنی

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good early introduction to Foucault though Alan Sheridan's 'The Will to Truth' is more systematic in covering MF's writings ...

[Federico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lette solo alcune parti necessarie alla stesura della mia tesi: ottimamente scritto, complesso sì ma molto buono. Specialmente illuminante la prima parte del testo, che mette in relazione l'archeologia foucaultiana con la tradizione fenomenologica e il pensiero di Heidegger. La seconda parte un po' lackluster: questo tuttavia è derivato dal fatto che la maggior parte dei testi foucaultiani su Greci e i Corsi al college de France non erano ancora stati pubblicati al momento della stesura del libro (nel '90 circa)

[hoffnarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

While we should be aware that this presents a particular narrative about the transitions in Foucault's thinking, one can easily see why this is one of the best known overviews of Foucault's thought. It is by no means an easy text but very rewarding.

[August Denys · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone studying Foucault's work and impact.

[Emil Gade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction with analytical rigour, however, i feel a too big part of this book was used explaining Foucaults missteps, rather than the fruits of his labour.

[Noah Christiansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read:
- The Subject and Power

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful for understanding Foucault.

[Cal]

33PPL referring to the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty
'Foucault does not argue that such an existential phenomenology of the body is naive or self-contradictory. He simply points out that this project is ambiguous: "The analysis of actual experience is a discourse of mixed nature: it is directed to a specific yet ambiguous stratum, concrete enough for it to be possible to apply to it a meticulous and descriptive language, yet sufficiently removed from the positivity of things for it to be possible, from that starting-point, to escape from that naivete, to contest it and seek foundations for it" (*OT* 321). He adds that, therefore, it is unstable and can never be completed: "What is given in experience and what renders experience possible correspond to one another in an endless oscillation" (*OT* 336).'

I think that this shows rather concisely my fundamental problem with the philosophical underpinnings of Foucault's work. It seems to me that he is constantly struggling to create a system that avoids the absurdities inherent in Merleau-Ponty's or Husserl's phenomenologically existentialist philosophies, but that still exists within the same immediate family of thought.

The ambiguous and ultimately subjective nature of these men's worlds disturbs Foucault greatly. He wants to describe man's existence with the same sort of universality, the same type of solid referents, as he could with the pure sciences. But while I certainly respect the decision to devote one's life to such a quixotic enterprise, I must admit that I find its origin, goal, and methods to be uniquely uncompelling.

I accept that Merleau-Ponty and Husserl created a sort of endless loop of reference—resulting in a hall-of-mirrors, turtles-all-the-way-down sort of picture of the world. But where Foucault is repelled by this amorphous foundation, I am rather thrilled. Because it seems to me (as I am sure it seemed to the gentlemen themselves) that any theory of humanity should be no less contradictory and absurd than humanity itself. An ambiguous, ultimately subjective theory of knowledge certainly jibes with my experience of knowledge-gathering.

This being the case, I cannot muster more than confused amazement at the leaps and circles and dances—worthy of the most talented circus performer—that Foucault sets himself to in pursuit of this pure, hermetic (if not hermeneutic) epistemology.

And, to be entirely honest, I am amazed that one could spend one's life trying to iron out philosophical inconsistency and still not wind up with a consistent philosophy. Had I been in Foucault's shoes, I'd have rather come up with a system that was untrue and consistent than one that was, as his archaeologies and genealogies undoubtedly were, largely true but inconsistent—just for the sake of saving face, if nothing else. At least then, you've done what you set out to do.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foucault, Americanized for your orals reading consumption! Cliffhangers are resolved, oblique statements cut-and-pasted into a readable narrative.

1960s almost structuralist - discourse
1970s beyond s and h - practice

1975 - Individual as Object - Discipline and Punish - Structuralism
1976 - Individual as Subject - Will to Knowledge - Hermeneutics

The afterword material is pretty awesome, strangely lucid.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hubert Dreyfus critisize Foucault and his philosophy and ideas, while Foucault was alive ...
این کتاب با عنوان "میشل فوکو، فراسوی ساختگرایی و هرمنوتیک" توسط حسین بشیریه به فارسی برگردانده شده و توسط نشر نی در 1376 چاپ و منتشر شده است.

[Johann]

This book is simply an authority book to acknowledge Foucault's thought. The authors are companions of the thinker and they gave this philosopher some insights on developing his later discourse.

[Mszaher]

s

[William West]

Great one volume analysis of Foucault's thought. Nearly as challenging as Foucault himself, however.

[Neil Turner]

A fascinating comprehension of Foucault's ideas and concepts.

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good source of Foucault...

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

hello, Foucault!

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books about Foucault there is.

[Francisca]

being half-way through with this (not in terms of percentage but of contents), i going to leave this one by the side for now. although i will be lying if i said i understand everything inside this book, i feel brave enough to actually face foucault by myself. at least, his earlier works: madness and civilization and the birth of the clinic: an archaeology of medical perception. from what the authors stated, those are his most straight-forward studies--which will probably make them his less stabilised ones. but i do want to try anyway and dip my toes around, see how i fare with them and maybe, just maybe, i can move forward with the order of things: an archaeology of the human sciences and archaeology of knowledge. will report further on the path...