Foucault and public autonomy

Jeremy Wisnewski

pp. 417-439

in: Continental Philosophy Review 33 (4), 2000.

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.

Cited authors

Foucault Michel