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Genealogy as a Practice of Freedom: Foucault's Historical Critique

<p>Michel Foucault's philosophy took the form of a series of historicallygrounded
"genealogical" studies of the interconnections between knowledge
and various social practices in contemporary society. This work is a reading of
"the good11-to use Charles Taylor's term-in Foucault's genealogies.</p> <p> According to the American social-historian David Rothman, "history is
a liberating discipline for it reminds us that there is nothing inevitable about the
institutions and procedures that surround us. In developing my reading of "the
good" in Foucault's genealogies I have endeavoured to translate the spirit of
this claim into the proposition that Foucault's genealogies were an expression of
his desire to increase human freedom through historical critique; i.e., that
Foucault's ethics were embodied in his philosophy which constitutes "a practice
of freedom".</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/16108
Date10 1900
CreatorsGoodwin, Michael
ContributorsAjzenstat, S., Philosophy
Source SetsMcMaster University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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