DOI: 10.4231/r7sb43zj
title: Foucault: Lecture 23, 13 May 1986

description: &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Deleuze Seminars&lt;/em&gt; is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during his career at the University of Paris 8.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&quot;Foucault&quot; was a 25-lecture seminar given from October 1985 to May 1986. In these lectures, Deleuze offers his interpretation and analysis of French philosopher Michel Foucault&#39;s work. Examining the theoretical foundations and major themes of Foucault&#39;s philosophy, Deleuze dedicates several lectures to each of what he calls the &quot;three axes&quot; of Foucault&#39;s thought. This seminar coincides with the publication of Deleuze&#39;s book &lt;em&gt;Foucault&lt;/em&gt; (1986).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In the 13 May 1986 lecture, topics of discussion include: subjectivation according to Foucault; four aspects of the fold: 1) the fold and the body, 2) the rule of the fold, 3) the relationship of the subject and the true, and 4) life in the folds and what the subject is entitled to expect (&lt;em&gt;en droit d&#39;attendre&lt;/em&gt;); the Greeks and subjectivation; the fold of force on itself; the rivalry between free agents; Marxism and subjectivation; the aesthetic dimension of subjectivation; the German Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch and his concept of the concrete utopia; the individuating methods of power practicing on subjectivation; the production of historical subjectivations which do not pass through knowledge (&lt;em&gt;le savoir&lt;/em&gt;) and power; the forgetting of old powers, and the lack of archaism for subjectivations; memory as a fold, as subjectivation; the variety of modes of subjectivation; the Hegelian dialectic; the difference between the systemic (studies of systems in disequilibrium, the heterogeneous units between them, and transversal relations from one unit to another) and the systematic (dialectic and homogeneous); and social struggles (&lt;em&gt;luttes&lt;/em&gt;) and new modes of subjectivation. Deleuze also discusses the following three problems: 1) What are the new struggles in relation to new forms of possible struggle? Is there a new role for the intellectual in these struggles, and in relation to old or new knowledges? How do modes of subjectivation that have their own rules (&lt;em&gt;leurs r&egrave;gles propres&lt;/em&gt;) come into contact with (&lt;em&gt;entrent en rapport avec&lt;/em&gt;) the new struggles?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This dataset includes: five mp3 recordings of the lecture (total time, 2:40:04), an aggregate version of the audio recordings into a single mp3, and the complete French transcription of the recorded lecture in both pdf (35 pp) and plain text.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Les S&eacute;minaires de Deleuze&lt;/em&gt; sont une collection d&#39;enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents compl&eacute;mentaires des conf&eacute;rences que le philosophe fran&ccedil;ais Gilles Deleuze a donn&eacute; lors de sa carri&egrave;re &agrave; l&#39;Universit&eacute; de Paris 8.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&laquo;Foucault&raquo; &eacute;tait un s&eacute;minaire de 25 conf&eacute;rences donn&eacute; d&#39;octobre 1985 &agrave; mai 1986. Dans ces conf&eacute;rences, Deleuze offre son interpr&eacute;tation et son analyse de l&rsquo;&oelig;uvre du philosophe fran&ccedil;ais Michel Foucault. En examinant les fondements th&eacute;oriques et les th&egrave;mes majeurs de la philosophie de Foucault, Deleuze consacre plusieurs conf&eacute;rences &agrave; chacun de ce qu&#39;il appelle les &laquo;trois axes&raquo; de la pens&eacute;e de Foucault. Ce s&eacute;minaire co&iuml;ncide avec la publication du livre de Deleuze &lt;em&gt;Foucault&lt;/em&gt; (1986).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Dans la conf&eacute;rence du 13 mai 1986, les sujets de discussion comprennent: la subjectivation selon Foucault; quatre aspects du pli: 1) le pli et le corps, 2) la r&egrave;gle du pli, 3) la rapport entre le sujet et le vrai, et 4) la vie dans les plis et ce que le sujet est en droit d&#39;attendre; les Grecs et la subjectivation; le pli de la force sur soi-m&ecirc;me; la rivalit&eacute; entre les agents libres; le marxisme et la subjectivation; la dimension esth&eacute;tique de la subjectivation; le philosophe marxiste allemand Ernst Bloch et son concept de l&#39;utopie concr&egrave;te; les m&eacute;thodes individuantes du pouvoir s&rsquo;exerҫant sur la subjectivation; la production de subjectivations historiques qui ne passent pas par le savoir et le pouvoir; l&#39;oubli des anciennes pouvoirs et le manque d&#39;archa&iuml;sme pour les subjectivations; la m&eacute;moire comme un pli, comme subjectivation; la vari&eacute;t&eacute; des modes de subjectivation; la dialectique h&eacute;g&eacute;lienne; la diff&eacute;rence entre le syst&eacute;mique (&eacute;tudes des syst&egrave;mes en d&eacute;s&eacute;quilibre, les unit&eacute;s h&eacute;t&eacute;rog&egrave;nes entre elles, et les relations transversales d&#39;une unit&eacute; &agrave; une autre) et le syst&eacute;matique (dialectique et homog&egrave;ne); et luttes sociales et de nouveaux modes de subjectivation. Deleuze discute aussi les trois probl&egrave;mes suivants: 1) Quelles sont les nouvelles luttes par rapport aux nouvelles formes de lutte &eacute;ventuelles? Y a-t-il un nouveau r&ocirc;le pour l&#39;intellectuel dans ces luttes et par rapport aux savoirs anciens ou nouveaux? Comment des modes de subjectivation qui ont leurs propres r&egrave;gles entrent en rapport avec les nouvelles luttes?&lt;/p&gt;
description: Lecture given by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze at the University of Paris 8, 13 May 1986. This is lecture 23 of a 25-lecture seminar Deleuze taught between October 1985 and May 1986.