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THE POLITICS OF THE ORDER OF THING S: FOUCAULT, SARTRE, AND DELEUZE
Author(s) -
GUTTING GARY
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
history and theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.169
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1468-2303
pISSN - 0018-2656
DOI - 10.1111/hith.10828
Subject(s) - politics , humanism , epistemology , order (exchange) , metaphysics , michel foucault , philosophy , psychoanalysis , sociology , psychology , law , political science , theology , finance , economics
Foucault's histories are typically aimed at what he regarded as intolerable political consequences of knowledge‐based disciplines such as psychiatry and medicine. But The Order of Things is hard to fit into this pattern. What are the intolerable political consequences of the metaphysical and epistemological “humanism” the book attacks? To answer this question, I discuss Foucault's attitude toward Sartre and Deleuze, neither mentioned in The Order of Thing s but both of central importance for understanding its political significance. My conclusion is that the book fails as a political critique of Sartre (and political humanism in general) and instead expresses Foucault's personal ethical preference for Deleuzian limit experiences.