Michel Foucault: Personal Autonomy and Education

Philosophy and Education

VOLUME 7

Series Editors:
C. J. B. Macmillan College of Education. The Florida State University. Tallahassee

D. C. Phillips School of Education. Stanford University

Editorial Board:
Richard J. Bernstein, New Schoolfor Social Research. New York David W. Hamlyn, University of London Richard J. Shavelson, University of California. Santa Barbara Harvey Siegel, University of Miami Patrick Suppes, Stanford University

The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.

Michel Foucault: Personal Autonomy and Education

by

JAMES D. MARSHALL
The University ofAuckland. New Zealand

SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Marshall, JaMes <JaMes D.) Mlchel Foucault : personal autonomy and educatlon I by James D. Marshall. p. CM. -- <Phllosophy and education ; v. 7) lncludes bibl lographlca 1 references (p. ) and indexes. 1. Foucault, Mlchel. 2. Foucault, Mlchel--Contrlbutlons in phllosophy of education. 3. Postmodernism and educat ion. 4. Autonomy (Phl1osophy) 1. Title. Il. Serles.
B2430.F724M36 194--dc20 1996 96-11697 ISBN 978-90-481-4697-0 ISBN 978-94-015-8662-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8662-7

ISBN 978-90-481-4697-0

Printed on acid-free paper

ce 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dord.recht

Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1996 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

AII Rights Reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Conclusion References Index of Names Index of Subjects : A Thousand Masks : Influences Upon Foucault : Liberalism and Liberaral Education : Personal Autonomy as an Aim of Education : Education and Power : On Education : Personal Autonomy Revisited : Doing Philosophy of Education 3 21
SS
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83 III 137 165 195 213 221 237 243

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to acknowledge the following sources in which some of my ideas from my reading of Foucault have been presented. Some earlier ideas on Foucault were presented in: 'Foucault and Education,' Australian Journal of Education 33(2), pp. 97-111, 1989; and, 'Foucault and Educational Research,' in Stephen Ball ed., Foucault and Education: Discipline and Knowledge, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 11-28, 1990. Some of my more recent views are to be found also in: 'The Autonomous Chooser and 'Reforms' in Education,' Studies in Philosophy and Education 15(1) (forthcoming); 'Wittgenstein and Foucault: Resolving Philosophical Puzzles,' Studies in Philosophy and Education 14(2-3), pp. 329-344, 1995; 'Pedagogy and Apedagogy: Lyotard and Foucault at Vincennes,' in Michael Peters ed., Education and the Postmodern Condition, New York, Bergin and Garvey, pp. 167-192, 1995; and, 'Michel Foucault: Governmentality and Liberal Education,' Studies in Philosophy and Education 14(1), pp. 23-34, 1995. I also wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following scholars, whose accounts I use in the text: Gary Gutting for his account of Bachelard and Canguilhelm; Roy Boyne for his discussion of Foucault on madness; and Huck Gutman for his account of Rousseau and the Romantic self.

vii

PREFACE
This book is designed to serve two purposes. First it provides an introduction to the ideas and works of Michel Foucault. It should be particularly appropriate for education students for whom, in general, Foucault is a shadowy presence. Second, it provides a Foucault based critique of a central plank of Western liberal education, the notion of the autonomous individual or personal autonomy. There are several introductions to Foucault but they tend to be written from a particular theoretical position, or with a particular interest in Foucault's ideas and works. For example Smart (1986) and Poster (1984) exemplify the former, and Dreyfus and Rabinow (1983) the latter. There is no substantial work in education on Foucault, apart from Ball (1990), which is an edited collection of papers by educationalists. The writer started reading Foucault from a position in education which was in the liberal framework, somewhere between Dewey, Freire and Habermas, but with an interest in punishment, authority and power. The book is the outcome of several years of trying to introduce students in education to his ideas and works in an educationally relevant manner. But an introduction, on its own, cannot show this relevance to education. Unless his ideas are put to work, unless they are used as opposed to mentioned in some sphere or area of education, then they may be of little relevance. In order to understand Foucault it is necessary to have some knowledge and understanding of the intellectual climate(s) in France post World War II, and the ideas, works and thinkers against which, and against whom, he defined and elaborated his thought. Also it is necessary to be aware of ideas, positions, and methods, that he adopted, adapted and made to groan. To comprehend the relevance of his work for education these ideas must be put to work. That is the intention of this book - to show that he provides the basis for a powerful critique of the post-Enlightenment ideal of personal autonomy. It is not just that this ideal is difficult to attain in education but that it is fundamentally incoherent; instead of liberating the individual and guaranteeing independence it promotes dependence, subjection and domination. According to Foucault: one writes things in part because one thinks them but also so one won't have to think them any more. Finishing a book is also not wanting to see it any more. As long as one has some love for his book one works on it. Once one no longer loves it, one stops
1

MICHEL FOUCAULT: PERSONAL AUTONOMY

writing it. (quoted in Eribon, 1991: 277)

This book is now finished, but it has been a long time in the writing, mainly because of constraints upon my energy and time from administrative duties. It has both suffered and prospered from short periods of intensive work whilst in Paris, during four visits in 1990-1992, and as a visiting professor at Simon Fraser University in 1991. It was substantially rewritten whilst I was a visiting fellow at Edith Cowan University in March/April 1994. I am grateful to the space and hospitality afforded me by these two universities, and to my friends Robin Barrow and Bruce Haynes in particular. I am also grateful for the patience of staff at the Biliotheque Nationale and the Bibliotheque Saulchoir, and for the assistance of M.Thierry Holzer of Mission des Archives du Ministere de l'Education Nationale. It was my former colleague Eric Braithwaite who, several years ago, passed me a copy of Foucault's Discipline and Punish. There are many of us who have intellectual debts to Eric. Finally, I would wish to acknowledge the continuing intellectual support for my work on Foucault of my friend and colleague Michael Peters, and the support over many years of Bridget. Josie Lander, Bridget Holland, Hilary Stewart, Denise Davies and Bev Cooke assisted with the preparation of the manuscript. James Marshall The University of Auckland