Mark G. E. Kelly 
For Foucault 
Against Normative Political Theory

This book comprises a series of staged confrontations between the thought of Michel Foucault and a cast of other figures in European and Anglophone political philosophy, including Marx, Lenin, Althusser, Deleuze, Rorty, Honneth, and Geuss. Focusing on the status of normativity in their thought, Mark G. E. Kelly explains how Foucault’s position in relation to political theory is different, and, over the course of the book, describes a distinctive Foucauldian stance in political thought that is maximally anti-normative, anti-theoretical, and anti-political.
For Foucault aims to undermine attempts to discern the appropriate form of political action, instead putting forward a rigorously critical program for a political theory that lacks any moralizing or totalizing dimension, and serves only to side with resistance against power, and never with power itself. Looking at attempts to think radically about politics from Marx to the present day, Kelly traces a novel history of political thought as a trend of attempts to overcome the constraints of normativity, theoreticism, and subordination to public policy. He concludes by assessing and rejecting recent attempts to reclaim Foucault for a form of normative politics by associating him with neoliberalism.

Tabla de materias

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Foucault and Political Philosophy



1. Marx: Anti-normative Critique



2. Lenin: The Invention of Party Governmentality



3. Althusser: A Failed Project to Denormativize Marxism



4. Deleuze: Denormativization as Norm



5. Rorty: Relativizing Normativity



6. Honneth: The Poverty of Critical Theory



7. Geuss: The Paradox of Realism



8. Foucault: The Lure of Neoliberalism



Conclusion: What Now?

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sobre el autor

Mark G. E. Kelly is Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University in Australia. His books include
Foucault and Politics: A Critical Introduction;
Biopolitical Imperialism; and
The Political Philosophy of Michel Foucault.