It is necessary to defend society

Author: Foucault
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-02-01
Features: The publication of this work marks the release of the teaching records of Michel Foucault at the Collège de France. From 1971 until his death on June 25, 1984, except for his sabbatical in 1977, Michel Foucault taught at the Collège de France. The chair was titled: "History of the System of Thought." On November 30, 1969, Jules Vuillemin proposed, and the faculty committee of the Collège de France approved, replacing the chair of the History of Philosophical Thought held by the deceased Jean Hippolyte with this new chair. On April 12, 1970, the same committee elected Michel Foucault as the professor for this new chair. (1) At the time, he was 43 years old. On December 2, 1970, Michel Foucault began his lectures. (2) Teaching at the Collège de France is subject to certain special regulations. Each professor must teach at least 26 hours per year (up to half of which can be discussion classes (3)), and they must present original research every year, updating their lecture content each time. Attending lectures and participating in seminars are entirely free, requiring neither registration nor a diploma, and professors are not authorized to issue diplomas. (4) It is often said that professors at the Collège de France have no students, only listeners. Foucault held classes every Wednesday from early January to late March. The audience was large, including university students, teachers, graduate students, curious individuals, and many foreigners, filling two lecture halls at the college. Foucault often complained about the great distance between him and his "audience," and the format of the lectures limited their interaction. He longed for seminars, a truly collaborative setting, and made various attempts to create them. In later years, he spent a lot of time answering questions from the audience after the lectures. In 1975, Gérard Petitjean, a reporter for Le Nouvel Observateur, described the atmosphere in the classroom as follows: "Foucault strode into the classroom, as if someone had suddenly dived into water, navigated through the crowd to the podium, pushed the microphone forward, put down his notes, took off his coat, turned on the desk lamp, and began lecturing without hesitation, the loudspeaker broadcasting his voice, the only tool in the hall, while the dim lighting came from a marble-like shallow basin. The hall had 300 seats, but 500 people were crammed together, packed to the brim. He spoke clearly and concisely, without a trace of improvisation. Foucault only devoted 12 hours per year in public lectures to explaining the significance of his research from the previous year. Therefore, he tried to be as concise as possible and then supplemented his remarks, much like how one feels compelled to add more after writing a letter. At 7:15 PM, Foucault concluded his lecture. Students rushed to the podium, not to speak with him, but to turn off their recording devices. No one asked questions, and in the crowded audience, Foucault was alone." Foucault remarked on this: "My lectures should be discussed. Sometimes the lecture was not very good, and a single question could make it start over, but such a question never came. In France, the collective effect makes genuine discussion impossible. Due to the lack of feedback channels, lectures are dramatized. Facing the crowd, I felt like an actor or a clown. As soon as I finished speaking, I felt completely alone" (6). Michel Foucault taught as a researcher: working on unfinished works, exploring problematized fields, which was more like an invitation to future researchers. Therefore, the lectures at the Collège de France did not cover published works, although they shared some concepts with his writings, they were not drafts of his books. Teaching had its own independent status and was part of the discourse mechanism of Foucault's broader "philosophical action." He primarily presented the outline of the genealogy of knowledge/power, using this as a basis, he began to reflect on his work starting in 1970—opposing the archaeological approach to discourse he had previously employed. (7) Teaching also had a practical significance. What attracted listeners was not just the narrative constructed each week; it was not just the powerful presentation, but also the perspective on reality. Foucault's art was to diagnose reality through history. He could speak of Nietzsche or Aristotle, 19th-century psychiatric assessments, or the rules of Christian missionaries, but the audience could always sense the spark of thought reflected in reality and contemporary events. Foucault's unique power in the classroom lay in his erudition, personal engagement, and subtle resonance with real-world events. In the 1970s, tape recording technology advanced significantly and became more refined, and Michel Foucault's office began to adopt it. The content of the lectures and some seminars were preserved. This publication is based on the content of Michel Foucault's public lectures. We made every effort to transcribe the recordings word for word (8), hoping to publish them as they were delivered. However, the transition from spoken to written form required the editor's intervention, at least to add punctuation and paragraph breaks. The general principle was to remain as close as possible to the classroom delivery, yet certain repetitions were deleted, disconnected sentences were reconnected, and some grammatical errors were corrected, which seemed essential. Ellipses indicate indistinct recordings, and when sentences were unclear, connecting words and additional elements were added in brackets []. Asterisks at the bottom of the page indicate notes used by Michel Foucault that differ from the notes presented in the lectures. All citations have been verified, and the specific references to the articles discussed are also indicated. Collation is limited to clarifying ambiguities, explaining allusions, and identifying corrections. To facilitate reading, each lecture is preceded by an index of keywords that highlights its main themes. A summary of the lectures is appended at the end, which was originally published in the Annuaire du Collège de France. Michel Foucault usually wrote it in June, some time after the lectures concluded. For him, it was an opportunity to retrospectively clarify the purpose and scope of his work. His expression was most perfect at this stage. At the end of each book, the editor is responsible for pointing out the "context," informing the reader of some biographical, ideological, and political backgrounds, situating the lecture within the context of published works, and indicating its position in various corpora to facilitate understanding and avoid misunderstandings caused by the lack of knowledge of the overall context of the lectures. The publication of the Collège de France lecture recordings has made another new aspect of Michel Foucault's work available to the world. To be precise, this is not the publication of posthumous works, as what is being published here are Michel Foucault's public speeches, not written works, and they hold great research value. Daniel Defert, the owner of Michel Foucault's notes, allowed the editors to consult them. We extend our sincere gratitude to him. The publication of the Collège de France lecture recordings was authorized by the successors of Michel Foucault, who hope that their strict requirements will be met, both in France and abroad, and that their seriousness is undeniable. We have strived to live up to the trust they have placed in us.
Fran?ois Ewald
Alessandro Fontana