scholarly journals Foucault’s Outside: Contingency, May-Being, and Revolt

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-200
Author(s):  
Luke Martin
Keyword(s):  
Political Movement ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
Revolutionary Politics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Alternative Reading ◽  
Quentin Meillassoux ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Do So

In this paper, I argue for an alternative reading of Michel Foucault as an anti-correlationist thinker. Specifically, I position him as aligned with what philosopher Quentin Meillassoux calls speculative materialism (an offshoot of speculative realism). Given the resurgent and exciting prioritization of speculative ontology over concrete politics among these thinkers, coupled with the need for a revolutionary anti-capitalist political movement, my approach aims to take speculative materialists’ claims regarding access to the in-itself seriously while also devoting attention to their (underdeveloped) political dimension. It is in this latter realm Foucault proves particularly helpful to think alongside. Though Foucault has often and convincingly been portrayed as an anti-universalist, postmodern, and epistemologically-oriented figure, I present him as concerned with the subject’s access to the Outside (the great outdoors, things-in-themselves) as well as the politics of such access. I do so through a study of a wide selection of his works (books, essays, interviews, articles), a comparison between his philosophical position and that of Meillassoux’s, and an expansion upon Foucault’s analysis of Diego Velázquez’s “Las Meninas” in The Order of Things, positing the artwork as a speculative object. I suggest, in short, that Foucault’s concepts of thought, force, and the subject have surprisingly striking similarities to Meillassoux’s absolute contingency and his political subject (the ‘vectoral militant’). We can, then, begin to see a revolutionary politics arising out of what I understand as Foucault’s speculative stance—hopefully providing an opportunity to both (re)consider Foucault and highlight the politics incipient in contemporary explorations into the Outside.

“I,” “You,” “Mine”: Subject and Quotation in Eléna Rivera's Mistakes, Accidents, and a Want of Liberty

2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-723
Author(s):  
DAVID KENNEDY ◽  
CHRISTINE KENNEDY
Keyword(s):  
Frederick Douglass ◽  
Political Poetry ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Do So

In the introduction to Quid 11: Three U.S. Poets (November 2002), Keston Sutherland wrote, “One considerable and vital task now facing U.S. poets … might be a confrontation with abstraction per se.” In the context of political poetry, this speaks to two important questions: first, how the individual is to be portrayed as a political subject by the avant-garde; second, what is the role of form in that portrayal? This essay will explore these questions through a detailed reading of Eléna Rivera's sequence Mistakes, Accidents, and a Want of Liberty (Barque Press, 2006). At first sight, Mistakes reads as a coded series of meditations in an associative order which give the reader the feeling of being abandoned into the text. However, Googling the opening poem's title, “thinking of my life, I almost forgot my liberty”, takes the reader straight to the nineteenth-century autobiography of slavery, escape and freedom The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845). This connects Rivera's sequence and the reader with one of the moments when a new type of individual-as-political-subject enters literature. An important part of Frederick Douglass's story involves learning to read and write at a time when slaves were forbidden to do so. In this context, Rivera is opening an argument about how the political subject is constructed and portrayed in language. We will argue, then, that through its intertextual relationship with The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and with other texts such as King Lear, Rivera's sequence offers revitalizing strategies not only for portraying the subject but for writing and reading politically. In this way, Mistakes, Accidents, and a Want of Liberty suggests ways of thinking, writing and reading outside what one poem calls “The limits … of ‘you’ as reflection, of ‘you’ as reaction”.

Speculative Realism and Science Fiction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Willems
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Cormac Mccarthy ◽  
Doris Lessing ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
Neil Gaiman ◽  
The World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Quentin Meillassoux

A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.

Compulsive Bodies, Creative Bodies: Beckett'sQuadand Agency in the 21stCentury

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Amanda Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Human Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Repetitive Movement ◽  
Repetitive Tasks ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Object Oriented Ontology ◽  
Geological Space ◽  
Alternative Reading

Lying in ditches, tromping through mud, wedged in urns, trash bins, buried in earth, bodies in Beckett appear anything but capable of acting meaningfully on their environments. Bodies in Beckett seem, rather, synonymous with abjection, brokenness, and passivity—as if the human were overcome by its materiality: odours, pain, foot sores, decreased mobility. To the extent that Beckett's personae act, they act vaguely (wandering) or engage in quasi-obsessive, repetitive tasks: maniacal rocking, rotating sucking stones and biscuits, uttering words evacuated of sense, ceaseless pacing. Perhaps the most vivid dramatization of bodies compelled to meaningless, repetitive movement is Quad (1981), Beckett's ‘ballet’ for television, in which four bodies in hooded robes repeat their series ad infinitum. By 1981, has all possibility for intentional action in Beckett been foreclosed? Are we doomed, as Hamm puts it, to an eternal repetition of the same? (‘Moments for nothing, now as always, time was never and time is over, reckoning closed and story ended.’)This article proposes an alternative reading of bodily abjection, passivity and compulsivity in Beckett, a reading that implies a version of agency more capacious than voluntarism. Focusing on Quad as an illustrative case, I show how, if we shift our focus from the body's diminished possibilities for movement to the imbrication of Beckett's personae in environments (a mound of earth), things, and objects, a different story emerges: rather than dramatizing the impossibility of action, Beckett's work may sketch plans for a more ecological, post-human version of agency, a more collaborative mode of ‘acting’ that eases the divide between the human, the world of inanimate objects, and the earth.Movements such as new materialism and object-oriented ontology challenge hierarchies among subjects, objects and environments, questioning the rigid distinction between animate and inanimate, and the notion of the Anthropocene emphasizes the influence of human activity on social and geological space. A major theoretical challenge that arises from such discourses (including 20th-century challenges to the idea of an autonomous, willing, subject) is to arrive at an account of agency robust enough to survive if not the ‘death of the subject’ then its imbrication in the material and social environment it acts upon. Beckett's treatment of the human body suggests a version of agency that draws strength from a body's interaction with its environment, such that meaning is formed in the nexus between body and world. Using the example of Quad, I show how representations of the body in Beckett disturb the opposition between compulsivity (when a body is driven to move or speak in the absence of intention) and creative invention. In Quad, serial repetition works to create an interface between body and world that is receptive to meanings outside the control of a human will. Paradoxically, compulsive repetition in Beckett, despite its uncomfortable closeness to addiction, harnesses a loss of individual control that proposes a more versatile and ecologically mindful understanding of human action.

Thomas More’s Correspondence in a Spanish Ambiance

Moreana ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (Number 149) (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenio M. Olivares Merino
Keyword(s):  
The Subject ◽  
Selection Of

The recent reprinting of Álvaro de Silva’s 1998 edition of a selection of More’s letters prompts the author to examine the subject of Spanish translations of More, and of de Silva’s general commentary on More’s correspondence and on his relationship to other humanists. The author reflects on aspects of More’s personality as exposed in his letters and uses what he finds as a corrective to several biographical misconceptions. He points out the strengths and weaknesses of de Silva’s work and compares it with that of other translators, particularly Elizabeth Rogers, and notes the particularly Spanish quality of de Silva’s edition.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

Tanks in the Spa Town. The New Book about the Events of the Year 1968 in Czechoslovakia

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 278-282
Author(s):  
Kirill A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Fiftieth Anniversary ◽  
Warsaw Pact ◽  
Scientific Event ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Terms ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Regional Perspective ◽  
The Way

This review is devoted to the monograph by Jan Nedvěd “We do not decline our heads. The events of the year 1968 in Karlovy Vary”. The Karlovy Vary municipal museum coincided its publishing with the fiftieth anniversary of the Prague spring which, considering the way of the presentation, turned the book not only to scientific event but also to the social one. The book describes sociopolitical trends in the region before the year 1968, the development of the reformist movement, the invasion and advance of the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and finally the decline of the reformist mood and the beginning of the normalization. Working on his writing, the author deeply studied the materials of the local archive and gathered the unique selection of the photographs depicting the passage of the soviet army through the spa town and the protest actions of its inhabitants. In the meantime, Nedvěd takes undue freedom with scientific terms, and his selection of historiography raises questions. The author bases his research on the Czech papers and scarcely uses the books of Russian origin. He also did not study the subject of the participating of the GDR’s army in the operation Danube, although these troops were concentrated on the borders of Karlovy Vary region as well. Because of this decision, there are no materials from German archives or historiography in the monograph. In general, the work lacks the width of studying its subject, but it definitively accomplishes the task of depicting the Prague spring from the regional perspective.

Determination of integral indicators characterizing the possibility of accommodating the evacuated population in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
pp. 154851292097028
Author(s):  
Yernar Zh Akimbayev ◽  
Zhumabek Kh Akhmetov ◽  
Murat S Kuanyshbaev ◽  
Arman T Abdykalykov ◽  
Rashid V Ibrayev
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Integrated Indicators ◽  
Selection Of

Studying the historical facts of past wars and armed conflicts and natural and man-made emergencies, today in the Republic of Kazakhstan one of the most important security issues is the preparation and organization of the evacuation of the population from possible dangerous zones, taking into account the emergence of new threats to the country’s security. The paper presents an algorithm for constructing universal scales of the distribution function of opportunities by types of support and rebuilding them into subject scales using display functions. The purpose of the paper is to determine the integral indicators characterizing the possibility of accommodation of the evacuated population and the impact on resources during relocation. On the subject scales of cities and districts of the region, indicators of the possibility of relocation of a certain amount of the evacuated population by types of support and indicators characterizing the impact on the district’s resources during resettlement of a certain amount of the evacuated population are determined. It was concluded that the use of integrated indicators allows the selection of areas to accommodate the evacuated population without the use of statistical data, in conditions of incomplete and inaccurate information. The presented method does not replace traditional methods based on classical methods of territory assessment by the level of life sustenance, but also allows their reasonable combination with the experience of specialists in this field, taking into account the incompleteness, uncertainty, and inconsistency of the initial data of the study area, which does not allow the application of existing methods.

Singular agreement in there-existentials

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Collins
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Relative Influence ◽  
Evolutionary Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Characteristic Style ◽  
Selection Of

The phenomenon of “singular agreement” (“SA”) in there-existentials — the combination of a plural post-verbal notional subject and a singular verb — has been the subject of a number of studies which have confirmed its covariation with a range of social, stylistic and grammatical factors. Whereas the focus of most such studies has been on the relative influence of these factors, that of the present study is on the nature and frequency of SA across (a selection of eight) World Englishes. Beginning with the assumption, for which there is indirect evidence in the literature, that SA is on the rise in contemporary English, an attempt is made to relate the degree of advancement of the eight varieties to their evolutionary status and characteristic style orientations.

Catacomb culture wagons of the Eurasian steppes

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (340) ◽  
pp. 378-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.I. Shishlina ◽  
D.S. Kovalev ◽  
E.R. Ibragimova
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Southern Russia ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Wheeled Vehicles ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Catacomb Culture

The origin and development of wheeled vehicles continues to fascinate today no less than when Stuart Piggott (1974) first wrote about the subject inAntiquity40 years ago. A growing number of examples from the steppes of southern Russia and Ukraine are providing new insights into the design and construction of these complex artefacts. A recent example from the Ulan IV burial mound illustrates the techniques employed and the mastery of materials, with careful selection of the kinds of wood used for the wheels, axles and other elements. Stable isotope analysis of the individual interred in this grave showed that he had travelled widely, emphasising the mobility of steppe populations.

THE CONCEPT, TYPES, TASKS AND THE NEED FOR THE USE OF URGENT INVESTMENT TOOLS OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT AT ENTERPRISES

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Yurynets ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Economic Condition ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Selection Of

Currently, many Ukrainian enterprises are in crisis. Getting out of this situation requires the use of various types of urgent crisis management tools, among which investment instruments play an important role. The purpose of this article is to form the theoretical basis for the use of urgent investment tools of crisis management at enterprises. It was found that the urgent investment tools of crisis management in the enterprise should be understood as ways of immediate (urgent) investment actions which are aimed at eliminating or reducing the negative impact of the crisis on the economic condition of the enterprise and ensuring its further effective development. These instruments are grouped according to the following characteristics: the environment in which the relevant instruments are formed and operate, the relation to the current owners of the enterprise, the effectiveness of implementation, the duration of the effect of implementing instruments, the urgency of their implementation, the areas of investment, the objectives of application, the duration of application, the types of financial and economic crises at the enterprise, the elimination (reduction) of the negative influence of which the corresponding tools are directed at, the subject of investment. It is established that the main tasks of using investment urgent tools of anti-crisis management at the enterprises are: selection of the best types of investment urgent tools of anti-crisis management; selection of the best variant of each type of urgent investment tools of crisis management; setting deadlines for the implementation of selected types and options for urgent tools of crisis management at the enterprise; determination of the optimal amount of total investments that should be invested in the implementation of the crisis management program at the enterprise, and the corresponding to this volume of the general list of investment urgent tools of such management; identifying the best sources of investment and establishing the best structure of investment in terms of these sources.

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