PLEASE NOTE this is a sample reading list for the 2015-16 academic year – precise seminar content may change from year to year. Programme of lectures and seminars: Week 1: Lecture: Introduction to the Module as a Whole. Brief biography of Foucault and introduction to his thought. Week 2: Seminar: What are philosophers for? Reading: I. Kant, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” (1784), in The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant, Practical Philosophy, translated and edited by Mary J. Gregor, 1996; M. Foucault, “What is Enlightenment?” in The Foucault Reader, edited by P. Rabinow. Lecture: The Genealogy of Liberalism Reading: M. Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 10 January + 17 January 1979; also excerpts from Security, Territory, Population (especially 1 Feb. 1978) and “Society must be defended” Week 3: Seminar: The Birth of Biopolitics Reading: “Society must be defended,” lecture of 17 March 1976; Security, Territory, Population, lectures of 11 January 1978, 25 January and 1 February 1978 Lecture: The Genealogy of Liberalism (cont.) Reading: M. Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 24 January 1979 Week 4: Seminar: Foucault and History Reading: M. Foucault, “On the Ways of Writing History” (1967) and “Who are you, Professor Foucault?” (1967). Lecture: The Genealogy of Neoliberalism (with emphasis on Mises and Hayek) Reading: The Birth of Biopolitics, 31 January + 7 February 1979 Week 5: Seminar: Foucault and History (cont.) Reading: M. Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History” Lecture: The Genealogy of Neoliberalism (cont., with emphasis on Chicago School) Reading: M. Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 14 + 21 March 1979 Week 6: Reading Week Week 7: Seminar: The Mechanics of Power Reading: M. Foucault, “The Subject and Power” in R. Dreyfus and P. Rabinow (eds), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics Lecture: The Genealogy of Neoliberalism (cont.) and the Question of (Self-) Governmentality Reading: The Birth of Biopolitics, 28 March + 4 April 1979 Week 8: Seminar: Bataille’s Political Economy Reading: G. Bataille, “The Notion of Expenditure” in Visions of Excess Lecture: “The Limit of Utility:” Introducing Bataille’s Project Week 9: Seminar: Bataille’s Political Economy Reading: G. Bataille, The Accursed Share, Volume 3 (Sovereignty), Part One, Chapter 1 (p. 247-261) Lecture: Reviving Sovereignty Reading: G. Bataille, The Accursed Share, Volume 3 (Sovereignty) Week 10: Seminar: Bataille on Sovereignty Reading: G. Bataille, The Accursed Share, Volume 3 (Sovereignty), Part One, Chapters 3 and 4 (p. 225260). Lecture: General Conclusion and Discussion