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War/truth: Foucault, Heraclitus and the dominion of force

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 13:35 authored by Shane Brighton
Michel Foucault’s problematics of war centre on three concerns: 1) the operation of that ‘historical-philosophical’ discourse which, counterposed to a ‘Platonic’ ‘juridical-philosophical’ tradition, takes war as analyzer of power relations; 2) the implication of that discourse in racial dividing practices; 3) the extent to which - despite intent - contemporary polemic philosophical and political activism risk reproducing such dividing practices. Departing from Foucault’s association of these problematics with modernity, this article attends to philosophical discussion of war and coeval transformations of Greek society and military practice in the transition from the Archaic to Classical period. In doing so, it suggests that 'historical-philosophical' discourse has a longer history and at its origin, the ‘juridical-philosophical’ tradition contained a more nuanced account of war than Foucault acknowledges. Reconstructing some of Foucault's assumptions thus has implications for addressing contemporary 'War/Truth', especially that which - invoking Classical Greek experience - promotes the concept of an historically continuous 'Western Way of War'.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Cambridge Review of International Affairs

ISSN

0955-7571

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

4

Volume

26

Page range

651-668

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • No

Legacy Posted Date

2013-05-29

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