Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics 2nd Edition

First I should state my position, or lack thereof.I am not a scholar, not an academic, not a student of philosophy. I am just a person who has an interest and desire to understand more about life and the ways of knowing it.As such, I was apprehensive about venturing into Foucault - having only kindergarten knowledge of post-structuralism - fearing any book (whatever its claims) would either be a condescending simplification ("Beginners guide to -" , "- for dummies") or wall of esoteric semantics and impenetrable gibberish.But to my amazement this book couldn't have been more useful or appropriate.The book managed to explain the overriding project of Foucault and as well explain in clear language what the problems and solutions Foucault offered (keep in mind my position as a stranger to Foucault, I cannot speak for the _accuracy_ of the text, only whether or not it manages to explain the theories they posit). The true mark of genius is how the book know exactly when to move forward and when to stop and elaborate. Whenever I found myself confused, the text would somehow become aware of this and reiterate the problem in different terms.Moving at a comfortable pace through most of Foucaults key concepts, it seems to give a good foundation for further investigation. I'll repeat: It's neither a dummies guide nor a academic secret code. In fact, I'm hard pressed to place the book in a category.Instead I'll say that the book was a Godsend for someone like me wanting to know more about Foucault and finding the dummies-guide's too simplistic.(Though, perhaps, the beginners and dummies guide gave me a foundation more required that I am aware of. Inevitably, however - to state a truism - these dummies-guide's are not representing the actual theories, but rather a separate gestalt of the theories, and ultimately a separate and less interesting theory)The text manages to give a representation - without falling to blind worship - of Foucault's "archaeology"; First presenting it and later putting it to the test (so to speak) makes this a both a primer in Foucault and a philosophical work in its own right.Someone told me this about the book before I bought it, and it is a hard concept to explain, and it took me actually reading the book to understand it myself... Without lacking either - or, rather, being fully planted in both - it walks that fine line between introduction and commentary of Foucault.Whether or not Deryfus and Rainbow actually present Foucault's full body or work I cannot know, having only read this book. For all I know there are theories and ideas missing from this primer - I have no way of knowing - but as a primer, even presenting a small portions of the ideas, there is enough in this text to open your eyes and change some of your thinking.

Having read most of Foucault and some of the jargon-laced incoherence that passes for scholarship on his work, I'd say this is the clearest, most coherent text you will find on Foucault. Dreyfus is a great explainer and clarifier of other philosophers (if he can rescue Heidegger from the being-in-the-swamp of his own verbiage, he can rescue anyone), and in this case, he makes Foucault clearer than I thought possible. Also, Dreyfus knew Foucault at Berkeley and was invited by Foucault to lecture in France, so I'm sure this personal connection gave him additional insight into Foucault's project.I have never been a fan of Foucault or the cult that has sprung up around him in seemingly every corner of the academic world, but Dreyfus and Rabinow at least convinced me that Foucault had something to say and explained what that was more clearly than Foucault ever managed to himself. I highly recommend this book, but it would help to have some background in philosophy (i.e. Kant) before you read it -- probably not required, but it would be helpful.

I haven't yet read all of this book but I think this book is very useful and helpful to understand the thought of Foucault that is hard to understand. There are many authers' insightful consideration about Foucault's thought and they explain it chronologically. So readers of this book can easily follow the development process of Foucault's thought. Although readers must have the knowledge of European philosophy, I recommend this book for all readers who want to know the overall thought of Foucault.

The best book I have ever read in analyzing Foucault's thought

Got his for my Brother and he loves it

This is simply the best introduction to the philosophy of Foucault and its ongoing significance.

As Expected

I did my dissertation on Foucault's archaeology (his first four books), and this required me to acquaint myself with much of the secondary literature concerning his thought. The bulk of this literature seems to be coming from critical theory and culture studies, and it is, well, not very good. Literature and sociology writers are fond of quote-mining his work, and the views I took from their articles almost convinced me that we had read different books.So Dreyfus and Rabinow's slender volume was a welcome relief. They have the philosophical background required to get a handle on what's going on in Foucault's discourse on discourse, and they had considerable access to the Man Himself to keep them on the straight and narrow. Their work follows the text very closely, and can help the careful reader identify the themes, arguments, and (most notably) tensions that run through these books.If you've read anything by Foucault, I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. Even if it's unable to reveal anything new to you, it will bring the works into a sharper focus and help you realize the place any given volume occupied in the overall project of Foucault's career.While I have read the "genealogy," I'm in no way an expert on the later works and cannot vouch for Dreyfus and Rabinow's authority concerning them. But given the sensitivity and alacrity with which the first four works are treated, I'm fairly confident they will provide rock-steady guidance for Foucault's examination of power and the institutions the wield it.