Force of Truth

Daniele Lorenzini is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and a prolific editor of Michel Foucault’s works, most recently Madness, Language, Literature, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

• Introduction: Writing the History of TruthA History of Truth That Does Not Rely on “the Truth”Toward an Ethics and Politics of Truth-TellingThe Force of Words and the Force of Truth1. Truth-Event“A Little History of Truth in General”The Emergence of the Alethurgic SubjectConfessional Sciences2. Regimes of TruthTruth Obligations?Games and Regimes of TruthA Critical (An)archaeologyLanguage Games and Games of TruthThe Value of TruthRegimes of Truth and Spirituality3. Truth as ForceCavell, Austin, and the PerlocutionaryParrhesia as Speech ActUnpredictability, Freedom, and CriticismRisk and CourageTransparency, or Parrhesia and Rhetoric4. Dramatics of TruthAlethurgySincerity, Authenticity, ConfessionPutting the Truth to the Test of Life5. Critique and Possibilizing GenealogyBeyond the Vindicatory-Subversive DichotomyFoucault, Habermas, and the Question of NormativityThe Genealogy of CritiqueGenealogy and We-MakingConclusion: Rethinking CritiqueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

"A timely intervention into the current debates on post-truth and Foucault’s significance for them. Lorenzini argues, again compellingly, that we need to steer clear of the false dilemma of either conceding that truth is only an effect of power, or strenuously defend the value of absolute truth against fake news and alternative facts. Foucault’s rejection of the Truth—truth understood as timeless and absolute—does not amount to a rejection of truth altogether. Rather, Foucault’s history of truth should be understood precisely as an attempt to criticize the claim that such an understanding of truth is necessary to stop our critical theories and practices from dissolving into relativism."