Foucault's Legacy

Foucault's Legacy brings together the work of eight Foucault specialists in an important collection of essays marking the 25th anniversary of Foucault's death. Focusing on the importance of Foucault's most central ideas for present-day philosophy, the book shows how his influence goes beyond his own canonical tradition and linguistic milieu. The essays in this book explore key areas of Foucault's thought by comparing aspects of his work with the thought of a number of major philosophers, including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Rorty, Hegel, Searle, Vattimo and Williams. Crucially the book also considers the applicability of his central ideas to broader issues such as totalitarianism, religion, and self-sacrifice. Presenting a fresh and exciting vision of Foucault as a philosopher of enduring influence, the book shows how important Foucault remains to philosophy today.

• Editor's Introduction, C.G. Prado (Queen's University, Canada); 1. The Temporality of Power, David Couzens Hoy (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA); 2. A Philosophical Shock: Foucault Reading Nietzsche, Reading Heidegger, Babette Babich (Fordham. University, USA); 3. Foucault, Hegel and the Death of Man, Tom Rockmore (Duquesne University, USA); 4. After Knowledge and Liberty: Foucault and the New Pragmatism, Barry Allen (McMaster University, Canada); 5. Two Uses of Genealogy: Michel Foucault and Bernard Williams, Colin Koopman (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA); 6. Weakening Ontology Through Actuality: Foucault and Vattimo, Santiago Zabala (Potsdam University, Germany); 7. Michel Foucault, Secularization Theory and the Theological Origins of Totalitarianism, Michael Lackey (University of Minnesota, USA); 8. Secular Self-Sacrifice: On Michel Foucault's Courses at the College de France, James Bernauer (Boston College, USA); Bibliography; Index.

"Foucault felt the epistemic sands shifting under his feet in the mid 1960s. He both registered that shift and contributed to it. In the quarter-century since his death, it is fitting that we consider the extent of the "Foucault effect" on the many areas encompassed by his "ethnology" of his own culture. The authoritative contributors to Foucault's Legacy meet this challenge with insight into his originality and a keen, though not uncritical, sense of his continued relevance to 21-century thought. An extremely valuable collection" - Thomas R. Flynn, Emory University, USA