Read through the lens of a single key concept in twentieth-century French philosophy, that of the "problem", this book relates the concept to specific thinkers and situates it in relation both to the wider history of philosophy and contemporary concerns. How exactly should the notion of problems be understood? What must a problem be in order to play an inaugurating role in thought? Does the word "problem" have a univocal sense? What is at stake - theoretically, ethically, politically, and institutionally - when philosophers use the word? This book addresses these and other questions, and is devoted to making historical and philosophical sense of the various uses and conceptualisations of notions of problems, problematics, and problematisations in twentieth-century French thought. In the process, it augments our understanding of the philosophical programs of a number of recent French thinkers, reconfigures our perception of the history and wider stakes of twentieth-century French philosophy, and reveals the ongoing theoretical richness and critical potential of the notion of the problem and its cognates. Working through the twentieth-century, and focussing on specific thinkers including Foucault and Deleuze, this book will be of interest to all scholars of French philosophy. This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki.

This book is the first to systematically reconstruct Michel Foucault's political and philosophical thought across his career. It argues, in the areas of epistemology, power, subjectivity, resistance, politics, and ethics, that Foucault's work represents the articulation of a consistent and progressive philosophical and political viewpoint. The work is thus an important intervention into the field of Foucault studies, where many continue to claim that Foucault's work is contradictory, nonsensical, or nihilistic.

This book is the first to systematically reconstruct Michel Foucault 's political and philosophical thought across his career. It argues, in the areas of epistemology, power, subjectivity, resistance, politics, and ethics, that Foucault 's work represents the articulation of a consistent and progressive philosophical and political viewpoint. The work is thus an important intervention into the field of Foucault studies, where many continue to claim that Foucault 's work is contradictory, nonsensical, or nihilistic.

Read through the lens of a single key concept in twentieth-century French philosophy, that of the "problem", this book relates the concept to specific thinkers and situates it in relation both to the wider history of philosophy and contemporary concerns. How exactly should the notion of problems be understood? What must a problem be in order to play an inaugurating role in thought? Does the word "problem" have a univocal sense? What is at stake - theoretically, ethically, politically, and institutionally - when philosophers use the word? This book addresses these and other questions, and is devoted to making historical and philosophical sense of the various uses and conceptualisations of notions of problems, problematics, and problematisations in twentieth-century French thought. In the process, it augments our understanding of the philosophical programs of a number of recent French thinkers, reconfigures our perception of the history and wider stakes of twentieth-century French philosophy, and reveals the ongoing theoretical richness and critical potential of the notion of the problem and its cognates. Working through the twentieth-century, and focussing on specific thinkers including Foucault and Deleuze, this book will be of interest to all scholars of French philosophy. This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki.

This is a step-by-step guide to Foucault's "History of Sexuality Volume I, The Will to Knowledge". In the first volume of his "History of Sexuality, The Will to Knowledge", Foucault weaves together the most influential theoretical account of sexuality since Freud. Mark Kelly systematically unpacks the intricacies of Foucault's dense and sometimes confusing exposition in a straightforward way, putting it in its historical and theoretical context. This is both a guide for the reader new to the text and one that offers new insights to those already familiar with Foucault's work.

This is a clear and critical account of Foucault's political thought: what he said, how it's been used and its influence today. Michel Foucault (1926-1984), French philosopher, social theorist, historian of ideas and literary critic, is primarily known as a radical thinker who disturbs our understanding of society, yet little attention has been paid to his politics. Now, Mark Kelly details and criticises all of Foucault's major political ideas: the historical relativity of knowledge; exclusion and abnormality; his radical reconception of power; his historical analysis of biopolitics in terms of discipline and biopower; his concept of governmentality; and his late work around ethics and subjectivity. Kelly shows how Foucault's positions changed over time, how his thought has been used in the political sphere and examines the importance of his work for politics today. It engages with Foucault's entire corpus, from his first works right up to his posthumously published College de France lectures and the unabridged version of the History of Madness. It looks at the theoretical reception of Foucault's thought and how it has been applied to real-world problems. Student-friendly text boxes highlight and explain key ideas.

This is a step-by-step guide to Foucault's "History of Sexuality Volume I, The Will to Knowledge". In the first volume of his "History of Sexuality, The Will to Knowledge", Foucault weaves together the most influential theoretical account of sexuality since Freud. Mark Kelly systematically unpacks the intricacies of Foucault's dense and sometimes confusing exposition in a straightforward way, putting it in its historical and theoretical context. This is both a guide for the reader new to the text and one that offers new insights to those already familiar with Foucault's work.