Katherine HeenanEnglish 472Spring 2007April 17, 2007Michel FoucaultA Discourse on LanguagePower and Discourse- A central terms in Foucault’s work—he was particularly interested in knowledge of human beings and power that acts on human beings- Power and knowledge are intrinsically related- In his “Discourse on Language” Foucault introduces us to power and knowledge throughanalysis of control of discourseDiscourse- In broadest sense--anything written, said or communicated using signs- Specifically: writing in an area of technical knowledge, ie, areas in which there are specialists, specialized or technical knowledge and specialized or technical vocabulary- Each era will define its own discourses, and these definitions may vary (even radically) overtime- Technical specialists work together to establish their field & its dominant ideas and have ever-increasing power over people- And these discourses have shaped the structure of societyo consider, for example, the discourse on madnesso it’s produced by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other expertso it defines the roles of madness--what it is, who has it, how to address it . . . o and so defines the roles of normalcy that structure societyA Discourse on Language- was his inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, where he was appointed in 1970- serves as a kind of introductory essay for the work he proposed to do, which appears later as The Archaeology of Knowledge- An explanation of his own aims and methods- Foucault writes that he would like "freed from the obligation to begin." Instead, "speech would proceed from me, while I stood in its path-a slender gap-the point of its possible disappearance" (215). - F. is commenting here on two of central concepts, "discourse" and "the author function." Heidegger had said that "language speaks through us," but F. will suggest thatFoucault notesdiscourses provide the limits to what can and can't be said or heard. - The author function is what F. prefers to the romantic, humanist, modern notion of the author. - For instance, we wouldn't consider a grocery list by Vonnegut to be "authored" by him. - So it's not the "author" that produces the oeuvre but rather the oeuvre that produces the author or the author function. - So, in these opening paragraphs, F. is illustrating the way in which this particular "discourse" on language is capable of producing him as author. - In more general terms for F. it is discourse as a medium for power that produces subjects or, as he puts it, "speaking subjects," which, for him, are the only kind there are.Foucault’s Hypothesis- in every society the production of discourse is at once o controlled, o selected, o organized and o redistributed - according to a certain number of procedures, whose role is "to avert its powers and its dangers, to cope with chance events, to evade its ponderous, awesome materiality."- Discourse is controlled in order to have its transformative potential checked, in order to limit the occurrence of the unexpected, and to limit the substance of discourse as an event in itself.- Discourse is controlled externally through the rules of exclusion, which include prohibition. The Control of Discourse- Rules of Exclusion (external delimitations)- Discourse operates by "rules of exclusion" concerning what is prohibited. Prohibition- We know perfectly well that we are not free to say just anything, when we like or where we like.- There are three types of prohibition:o objects (what can be spoken of)o ritual (where and how one may speak), and o the privileged or exclusive right to speak of certain subjects (who may speak).The Control of Discourse- These prohibitions interrelate, reinforce and complement each other, forming a complex web, continually subject to modification. - The areas most tightly woven today are politics & sexuality.2Foucault notes- The prohibitions surrounding speech reveal its links with desire and power.- The opposition of reason and madness- old division, which used to count mad speech either as wholly irrational, thereforedevoid of truth, or revealing a hidden rationality, therefore almost preternaturally true, is still here, but proceeds along different lines--institutions, psychiatrists, etc. The psychiatrist listens to speech invested with desire, crediting itself--for itsgreater exaltation or its greater anguish--with terrible powers.The opposition between true and false.- Mad speech is outside discourse-neither true nor false within any accepted discourse, but inhabiting a void. - That helps to show the "rules of exclusion" that govern discourses and do not-cannot-recognize a whole range of thoughts or speech that do not conform in terms of object, ritual, or right to speak. - Will to truth - the final rule of exclusion, and one becoming increasingly central is the division into true and false. The will to truth, a changing system of inclusion into truthfulness that governs scope and use of knowledge. The will to knowledge determines what truth is and what kind of truth is important. Foucault documents the shift from truth being manifest in the speaker to being manifests in the content of speech and the subjects to be discussed. The will to truth exerts constant pressure on discourse but yet is invisible.Internal Systems o Discourse employs a system of internal rules dealing with classification, ordering, and distribution in the control of events and chance. Although Foucault calls them rules, they are best understood as forms.o One such rule is commentary.i. Commentary, commenting on a primary text, allows new discourse while controlling the content of the discourse.ii. Foucault discusses the myths and stories that color or shape our national discourses; at the same time, the discourse shapes the ways in which we understand the stories, the "commentary" on the seminal stories like The Odyssey, for instance.iii. Ultimately commentary is nothing but recitation as commentators are merely announcing what has already been stated, albeit less explicitly, in the primarytext.- for the control & delimitation of discourse - Here, discourse exercises its own control, rules regarding principles of classification, ordering and distribution. It is as though we were now involved in the mastery of another dimension of discourse: that of events and chance.3Foucault notesInternal Systemsa. Another such rule is the author.i. The author also is directed at chance events by imposing the limit