Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 45 No. 2, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi45207
Variants of Critical Engagement in the Work of Michel Foucault
Miloš Urošević
; Univerzitet u Beogradu, Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Kraljice Natalije 45, RS–11000 Beograd
Abstract
The article analyses “critical engagement” in Michel Foucault’s work, which he defined as a fusion of intellectual work and activism. It does this by exploring the ways in which Foucault conceptualised the relationship between genealogical research and political resistance. The first modality views genealogy as exposing the capriciousness of power relations, thereby aiding marginalised groups in developing resistance practices. The second modality, as presented in the course Security, Territory, Population, views genealogy as mapping resistance points within the apparatus, thus showing to resistance actors that the prevailing apparatus’s rationality is their common enemy. A third modality appears in Foucault’s study of “parrhesia”, where the figure of the “cynic” represents a synthesis of intellectual work and resistance practices. In conclusion, we argue that critical engagement is essential for understanding Foucault’s work.
Keywords
Michel Foucault; resistance; genealogy; dispositive; strategies; parrhesia
Hrčak ID:
335476
URI
Publication date:
25.9.2025.
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