Interest and Initial Thoughts

This is my reaction blog for the readings and discussion of Michel Foucault in the class Phil 315- Studies in French Philosophy, at Northwestern University. I first became interested in Foucault while reading Madness and Civilization and a few other short selections from lectures and interviews. What I find most captivating is Foucault's approach to philosophy, and to any kind of intellectual pursuit in general. The way in which he deals with history and discourse has shed a completely new light on the development of ideas which had previously seemed fairly straightforward to me. This is not to say that I am fully convinced by any one of his specific ideas; but simply to say that, just as is the case with Nietzsche, I believe that Foucault demonstrates an entirely new angle from which to approach problems, and a sort of rigor that allows for a more effective philosophical examination of the world.