Syllabus
FOUCAULT & THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY - 15883
Last update 15-10-2017
HU Credits: 2
Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department: philosophy
Academic year: 0
Semester: 2nd Semester
Teaching Languages: English
Campus: Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator: Arnold Davidson
Coordinator Email: fiorentina@uchicago.edu
Coordinator Office Hours: By Appointment
Teaching Staff:
Course/Module description:
Foucault & The History of Sexuality
This course focuses on a close reading of the first volume of Michel Foucaults The History of Sexuality, although we will also read selections from the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality as well as excerpts from Foucaults courses at the Collטge de France and some of his essays and interviews. We will examine the reasons why Foucault considered the history of sexuality as a privileged example through which he could elaborate a new philosophical conception of power and of the ethics of the self. How should a history of sexuality take into account scientific theories, social relations of power, and different experiences of the self? We will discuss the contrasting descriptions and conceptions of sexual behavior before and after the emergence of a science of sexuality. Other writers influenced by and critical of Foucault are also discussed.
Course/Module aims: -
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Professor Arnold I. Davidson
Seminar 1: Introduction to Foucault and The History of Sexuality
Arnold I. Davidson, Archeology, Genealogy, Ethics in Foucault: A Critical Reader, Edited by David Couzens Hoy
Seminar 2: Methodological Background and Foucaults Initial Project for a History of Sexuality
Michel Foucault, Nietzsche, Genealogy, History in Foucault, Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology, Edited by James D. Faubion
Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Michel Foucault, The Abnormals in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Michel Foucault, Schizo-Culture: Infantile Sexuality in Foucault Live, Edited by Sylvטre Lotringer
Seminar 3: The Repressive Hypothesis
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part One and Part Two Seminar 4: The Science of Sexuality
Seminar 5: Dynamic Nominalism
Ian Hacking, Making Up People in Reconstructing Individualism, Edited by Thomas C. Heller et al.
Arnold I. Davidson, The Emergence of Sexuality, Chapter 2 Seminar 6: Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexuality
Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (in the James Strachey translation of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud)
Arnold I. Davidson, The Emergence of Sexuality, Chapter 3 and Appendix Seminar 7: The Apparatus of Sexuality and the Analytics of Power
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part Four Seminar 8: The Era of Biopower
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part 5
Arnold I. Davidson, In Praise of Counter-Conduct in History of the Human Sciences, Volume 24, no. 4 (October 2011)
Seminar 9: Ethics, Practices of the Self, and the Arts of Living Michel Foucault, Subjectivity and Truth, first two lectures
Michel Foucault, Preface to The History of Sexuality, Volume Two in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (also recommended is the Introduction to The Use of Pleasure
Michel Foucault, On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Seminar 10: Sexual Behavior as a Domain of Moral Experience in Antiquity David M. Halperin, Historicizing the Sexual Body: Sexual Preferences and Erotic Identities in the Pseudo-Lucianic Erotךs in Discourses of Sexuality, Edited by Domna C. Stanton
Paul Veyne, Homosexuality in Ancient Rome in Western Sexuality, Edited by Philippe Ariטs and Andrי Bיjin
Michael Foucault, The Battle for Chasity in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, Sexuality and Solitude in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Seminar 11: Politics, Cultural Forms and Sex
Michel Foucault, Friendship as a Way of Life in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, Sexual Choice, Sexual Act in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, The Social Triumph of the Sexual Will in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Michel Foucault, Sex, Power and the Politics of Identity in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Michel Foucault, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, pp. 1-30
Michel Foucault, What is Enlightenment? in The Foucault Reader, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Requirements
Each enrolled student will be responsible for leading a seminar discussion on one of the weeks readings. A final paper in English of approximately fifteen pages is required.
Attendance requirements(%):
Attendance required at all sessions
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Seminar
Course/Module Content: Professor Arnold I. Davidson
Seminar 1: Introduction to Foucault and The History of Sexuality
Arnold I. Davidson, Archeology, Genealogy, Ethics in Foucault: A Critical Reader, Edited by David Couzens Hoy
Seminar 2: Methodological Background and Foucaults Initial Project for a History of Sexuality
Michel Foucault, Nietzsche, Genealogy, History in Foucault, Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology, Edited by James D. Faubion
Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Michel Foucault, The Abnormals in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Michel Foucault, Schizo-Culture: Infantile Sexuality in Foucault Live, Edited by Sylvטre Lotringer
Seminar 3: The Repressive Hypothesis
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part One and Part Two Seminar 4: The Science of Sexuality
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part 3 Arnold I. Davidson, The Emergence of Sexuality, Chapter 1 Seminar 5: Dynamic Nominalism
Arnold I. Davidson, The Emergence of Sexuality, Chapter 2 Seminar 6: Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexuality
Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (in the James Strachey translation of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud)
Arnold I. Davidson, The Emergence of Sexuality, Chapter 3 and Appendix Seminar 7: The Apparatus of Sexuality and the Analytics of Power
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part Four Seminar 8: The Era of Biopower
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Part 5
Arnold I. Davidson, In Praise of Counter-Conduct in History of the Human Sciences, Volume 24, no. 4 (October 2011)
Seminar 9: Ethics, Practices of the Self, and the Arts of Living Michel Foucault, Subjectivity and Truth, first two lectures
Michel Foucault, Preface to The History of Sexuality, Volume Two in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (also recommended is the Introduction to The Use of Pleasure
Michel Foucault, On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Seminar 10: Sexual Behavior as a Domain of Moral Experience in Antiquity David M. Halperin, Historicizing the Sexual Body: Sexual Preferences and Erotic Identities in the Pseudo-Lucianic Erotךs in Discourses of Sexuality, Edited by Domna C. Stanton
Paul Veyne, Homosexuality in Ancient Rome in Western Sexuality, Edited by Philippe Ariטs and Andrי Bיjin
Michael Foucault, The Battle for Chasity in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, Sexuality and Solitude in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Seminar 11: Politics, Cultural Forms and Sex
Michel Foucault, Friendship as a Way of Life in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, Sexual Choice, Sexual Act in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth Michel Foucault, The Social Triumph of the Sexual Will in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Michel Foucault, Sex, Power and the Politics of Identity in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth
Seminar 12: Where Do We Go From Here: General Considerations Michel Foucault, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, pp. 1-30
Michel Foucault, What is Enlightenment? in The Foucault Reader, Edited by Paul Rabinow
Each enrolled student will be responsible for leading a seminar discussion on one of the weeks readings. A final paper in English of approximately fifteen pages is required.
Required Reading: Indicated on syllabus
Additional Reading Material: -
Course/Module evaluation: