Re: Quote (Umberto Eco)

Jay Lemke (jllbc who-is-at cunyvm.cuny.edu)
Thu, 03 Sep 1998 21:45:39 -0400

It seems a bit odd to read a message defaming Michel Foucault in response
to a quote from a novel by Eco that happens to mention in its title the
name of another Foucault from French intellectual history.

It also strikes me as somewhat lacking in wisdom to seek to make simplistic
moral judgments about the complex life and beliefs of one of the most
productive intellectual leaders of our times. Foucault was known in Paris
for his willingness to support many unpopular political causes, and I
rather suspect that in addition to a general resistance to establishment
moral and political views, he would have had some rather thoughtful
insights to offer about why what so often seems obviously right or wrong so
rarely in fact is.

JAY.

---------------------------
JAY L. LEMKE
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
JLLBC who-is-at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
<http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/education/jlemke/index.htm>
---------------------------