Comments on Castoriadis blog: Castoriadis, Foucault, Deleuze and Others?

Thanks for your responses. Unfortunately I can ba...

2009-04-27T04:09:00.000+02:00

Thanks for your responses.

Unfortunately I can barely read French.

I think that Foucault's concept of 'care of the self' would fit together very well with Castoriadis's claims regarding the role of paideia and psychoanalysis for facilitating autonomy. The teacher/analyst has an important role, largely meant to get the student/analysand to not just think about themselves, but act upon themselves. I think Castoriadis's insistence upon the always social nature of such thought-action is an important rejoinder to Foucault and the 'care for the self' concept.

Hi Troy, Sounds like a great topic - couple of tho...

2009-04-19T15:22:00.000+02:00

Hi Troy,
Sounds like a great topic - couple of thoughts in response:
1. In the proposed abstract it says "The possibility of an indeterminate “self” has been elaborated in similar ways by Cornelius Castoriadis". Perhaps this could be nuanced somewhat. For Castoriadis, there is no "possibility" of an indeterminate self - "Self" is always already indeterminate. The disclosure of a possibility of an indeterminate self could signify the abyss of being emerging into the 'known' world of the Ego. Whereas the existence of an autonomous individual pre-supposes an understanding of the self as always already indeterminate (cf, for instance, The Ontological Import of the History of Science & Power, Politics, Auotonomy).
2. (Following from the above) I wonder if Foucault might shed some light on the process that is the transformation of subjectivity from "self as determinate" to "self as indeterminate". While Castoriadis points out the potential for paideia (pedagogy) and psychoanalysis to facilitate the individual transforming autonomy out of heteronomy, his analysis does not clearly elucidate 'how' this is to occur. I find this to be an important aspect of research and inquiry, particularly given that the project of autonomy stands and falls with the individual inaugurating their own autonomy. I am not that familiar with Foucault's work - would he have something to of worth to mention on this?
Cheers
Johnathon.

read, if you read french: Philippe Caumières, „La ...

2009-04-17T20:23:00.000+02:00

read, if you read french: Philippe Caumières, „La pensée de l’autonomie selon Castoriadis au risque de Foucault“, in: Sophie Klimis, Laurent Van Eynde (Hg.), L’imaginaire selon Castoriadis. Cahiers Castoriadis n°1, Bruxelles: Facultés Universitaires St. Louis 2006, S. 165-199.

AP