Open AccessThe Intervening Prince: Althusser, Foucault, and a Theory of Strategy
Author(s) -
Dave Mesing
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
filozofski vestnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.103
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1581-1239
pISSN - 0353-4510
DOI - 10.3986/fv.41.1.02
Subject(s) - anticipation (artificial intelligence) , schema (genetic algorithms) , epistemology , phrase , sociology , michel foucault , philosophy , focus (optics) , psychoanalysis , aesthetics , politics , psychology , law , computer science , linguistics , political science , artificial intelligence , physics , optics , machine learning
This paper stages an encounter between Foucault and Althusser on the question of strategy. By contrasting a few passages in La Volonté de savoir with some of Althusser’s writings on Machiavelli and Lenin, I propose an alternative between the two thinkers according to a schema of strategic thought (Foucault) and a philosophy for strategy (Althusser). This narrow focus enables me to generate a working definition of strategy as the anticipation of an encounter which modifies, abolishes, or otherwise alters the relations constituting its conjuncture. By staging the encounter between the Foucault and Althusser, I propose this definition as a reflection on the phrase “intervention into conjuncture,” and conclude by sketching implications concerning theory, practice, and the discipline of the conjuncture.