One of my favourite topics to teach, this is an 11-week overview of post-war French philosophy I taught in the summer of 2020 during lockdown at the Mary Ward Centre.
Historically my teaching has been in-person, leaving no record behind. But with lockdown, I videoed my lectures at home and then held some wonderful discussion groups on Zoom. What remains then is only half the true course – my course overview, class slides, and links to the recorded YouTube lectures. But of the most thrilling and energising parts, the debates, nothing remains except fine memories.
The course in a nutshell:
Philosophy in the second half of the 20th century was faced with the demands of formulating an adequate response to the world after the Second World War: the rise of different forms of totalitarianism, the horrors of the war itself and the role of technology in bringing this about became urgent issues. Philosophers began to ask how modes of thinking or understandings of politics or morality could be complicit or even reinforce fascism or colonialism. In this course, we will examine how philosophers primarily in France between the 1960s-70s responded to this remarkable new situation.
We will begin with an historical context that appraises Existentialism and the rise of Critical Theory associated with the Frankfurt School, which attempted to provide an updated Marxist analysis for these new forms of power and knowledge during this period. Then, we will explore the development of what have since been called Structuralism and in particular Post-Structuralism in France. We will read, discuss and make sense of the key contributions of thinkers like Fanon, Foucault, Lacan, Derrida and Deleuze. We will ask why the revival of Spinoza became necessary for many Leftists. We will cover May 1968 and the work of the Situationists. We’ll also deal with the problem of June 68 – why support for revolution died away, and how new works by Deleuze and Guattari and Baudrillard got to grips with these changing consumerist, even ‘postmodern’ society. Finally, we also reflect on one of the major advances of the period – second-wave feminism and women’s liberation, and we will explore this in the écriture feminine of Irigaray and Cixous.
Society, Language, Difference – Course Overview and Readings
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