A Transdiscursive Man - Foucault's Project - Paris-The Top 100

Sep 19, 2026

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A Transdiscursive Man introduces Michel Foucault through multiple authorial angles, tracing how the term “transdiscursive” links author, theory, tradition, and discipline. It outlines Foucault’s historical method for examining how subjects and objects emerge through knowledge and power, including dividing practices and subjectification. The text then expands into fictionalization as a biographical approach, and situates Foucault’s engagement with major philosophical conversations such as Hegel and Hyppolite, before moving to his student period and influences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages91

Reading Time2 h 20 min

AccessFree to download

A Transdiscursive Man

Foucault's Project

Foucault Fiction

Paris-The Top 100

Hyppolite and Hegel

Foucault the Student

Also available from Totem INTRODUCING.Bnligtemment INT8ODUCINGBaudrllard1NTRODUCING First published in the United States in 1997 by Totem Book:Inquiries to PO Box 223,Canal Street StationNew York,NY 10013 Reprinted 1998 Distributed to the trade in the United Statesby National Book Network Inc.,4720 Boston Way,Lanham,Maryland 20706 Text copyright ◎1997 Chris Horrocks llustrations copyright ◎1997 Zoran Jevtic Originating editor:Richard Appignanesi No part of this book may be reproduced in any form,or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN 1874166544 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:96-061952 Printed and bound in Great Britaln byBiddles Ltd.,Guidford and King's Lynn I,Michel Foucault... To find the real Michel Foucault is to ask "which one"? Should we look at the life of the man himself,who as a boy wanted to be aShodfish,but became a philosopher and historian,political activist,leatherqueen,bestseller,treless campaigner for dissident causes? # A Transdiscursive Man Foucault the Author? Foucault gave us the term transdiscursive,which describes how,forexample,Foucault is not simply an author of a book,but the author of atheory,tradition or discipline. Or should we see Michel Foucault as the author,whose work combinesbriliant insight and eccentric detail,uniting contemporary philosophicalpractice with the archaeology of the many documents he patiently retrievedfrom history?And what should we exclude,given the huge shifts intheoretical position over his career? We can at least say that he wasthe instigator of a method ofhistorical inquiry which has hadmajor effects on the study ofFoucault himself problematized thesubjectivity,power,knowledge,discourse,history,sexuality,There are many"Foucaults"-whether theyare all texts,or features ina network of institutionalpower,arégime of truthand knowledge,or thediscourse of the authorand his works.Let'sexplore the many layersof Foucault. , # Foucault's Project Foucault sought to account for theway in which human beings havehistoricallybecome the subjectand object of politicai,scientific,economic,philosophical,legal andsocial discourses and practices. But Foucault does not take theidea of subjectivity inphilosophical isolation.Itbecomes linked with-and evenproduced by knowledge andpower through-dividingpractices where,forexample,psychiatry divides the mad fromthe sane. Scientific classification:wherescience classifies the individualas the subject of life (biology),labour(economics)and language(linguistics). Subjectification:the way the individual turns himself into a subject of health,sexuality, # Foucault Fiction "n my books I do like to make fictional use of the materials l assemble orput together,and I deliberately make fictional constructions with authenticelements." Let's "fictionalize"Foucault's life by turning it into a biographical account of nasty children made it sound like Polichinello (Punch)! He changed it to Michel-perhaps expressing love for his Mum,who'dinsisted on the name at his birth. # Paris-The Top 100 Foucault loved studying history,but Hyppoliteshowed him that philosophy could explain history. But is history just a patient progress towardsreason,and does philosophy have limits? Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) Hegel thought that what is real isrational,and that the truth is "thewhole"-one great,complexsystem which he called theAbsolute.He believed that Mind or # Hyppolite and Hegel The Return of Hegel Hegel had started the attempt to explore the irrational and to integrate itinto an expanded reason.But was this still part of the modern task ofphilosophy-the search for a total system which would absorb unreason? A modern readingPhilosopher Alexandre Kojèveof Hegel shows us that(1900-68)had also rescued Hegelphilosophy cannot see itself as afrom the Romantic view of himview of history which can achieveas the lumbering creator ofcompletion,but

FAQs

What does “transdiscursive” mean in Foucault’s context?

It describes how Foucault is not only an author of books, but also the author of a theory, tradition, or discipline.

How does Foucault connect subjectivity with knowledge and power?

Subjectivity becomes linked to knowledge and power through dividing practices that produce subjects, such as psychiatry dividing the mad from the sane.

What is “fictionalize” used for when presenting Foucault’s life?

It turns Foucault’s life into a biographical account by making fictional constructions with authentic elements.

Sep 19, 2026

Upload by Aria