VALIDITY OF BÉASSE. A REVIEW OF CRITICISM OF AXEL HONNETH ON MICHEL FOUCAULT

Abstract

In this paper I analyze how Axel Honneth interprets, in his book Critique of power, the social philosophy of Michel Foucault. Honneth notes a contradiction between what he calls the Foucault’s theory of power and his historical studies (particularly those contained in Discipline and Punish). One of my aims is to explain this contradiction and propose an alternative reading. Honneth supposed that disciplinary institutions end up displacing action and social struggle. Conversely, I try to show –this is the contribution that I would like to do in the article, based on a conceptual reconstruction– that the disciplines and disciplinary institutions should be considered as tactics that never quite reach your goal. These are tactics that fail to block definitively the expression of resistance and conflict. This alternative reading that I propose allows, in principle, two contact points between Foucault and critical theory that have not yet been elucidated.