Subject or Concept? An Interdependent Dyad

Abstract:     
This paper illustrates the line drawn by Michel Foucalt between two archetypes, 'the line that separates a philosophy of experience, of sense and of subject and a philosophy of knowledge, of rationality and of concept. One network is that of Sartre and Merleau- Ponty; another is that of Cavaillès, Bachelard and Canguilhem.' ('Introduction' to Geoges Canguilhem, The Normal and the Pathological). It is the difference between the practice of theory and the theorizing of practice, two strands of thought present over space and through time, from the ancients to the twentieth century. While these ideal types would seem to recede into infinity in their mutual distance, it is found that they are in perpetual dialogue through the commonality of their speaking truth to power.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

Keywords: philosophy, experience, knowledge

JEL Classification: F22, O15, R23

working papers series