“从无知到有罪”——福柯论“俄狄浦斯王”中的三重“知识-权力”交织

Abstract

Abstract:

The thematic relationship between knowledge and power is of great importance through the whole of Foucault's theoretical thought. Thus his interpretation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King should not be neglected, because it can be treated as a supplement to his early writing on this "knowledge-power" relationship. In his analysis of Oedipus the King, Foucault introduces the concept of will to know. Through that concept, he attempts to replace the traditional causal chain, which is prima facie natural, between knowledge and the will to know, with a more complicated relationship between knowledge and power so as to account for the birth of modern systematized institutions of true discourse. Foucault's begins his own interpretation with a critique of Freud. He argues that, though Freud's psychological interpretation of Oedipus the King breaks off the traditional understanding of universal form of desire, it has overvalued the status of sexuality in human culture. On the contrary, what Oedipus the King exactly shows, according to Foucault, is the manifestation of truth and the operation of power institutions in discursive knowledge. Foucault establishes his "Oedipal Knowledge" in three levels. On the first level, the Oedipus fable reveals how some certain types of self-knowledge come into being, and how these different types of knowledge confront each other and finally fit together. On the second level, the Oedipus complex is not about sex, but the complicated interweaving of power-knowledge relation linked with Oedipus's identity:he is both at the same time a king, a criminal and incestuous. On the third and the last, the fable manifests a particular kind of juridical form of truth which originated in ancient times, and figures out how this juridical form of knowledge operates in the modern. Finally, I argue that Foucault's multi-level analysis of Oedipus the King suggests a transition of his research interest, which shifts from investigations of specific institutions of power to ancient thoughts on power.

Key words: Foucault, Oedipus the King, knowledge, power, truth

ZHU Wencheng. “From Ignorance to Guilt”: The Triple Interweaving of Knowledge-Power in Foucault's Analysis of Oedipus the King[J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2018, 38(2): 188-212.

References

巢志雄.2009. 司法的谱系:福柯论司法形式与真理[J].司法,00:176-189.
傅柯.1994.知识的考掘[M].王德威,译.台北:麦田人文.
弗洛伊德.2005.图腾与禁忌[M].文良文化,译.北京:中央编译局.
罗念生,主编.2007.埃斯库罗斯悲剧三种、索福克勒斯悲剧四种(罗念生全集第二卷)[M].上海人民出版社.
莫伟民.1996.主体的命运[M].上海:三联书店.
姚云帆.2017. 从真理的剧场到治理的剧场:福柯对《俄狄浦斯王》的解读[J].文艺研究,(10):100-109.
Allen,B. 2010. "Foucault's Theory of Knowledge."In Foucault and Philosophy,edited by Timothy O'Leary and Christopher Falzon. West Sussex:Blackwell:143-161
Cutrofello, A. 2005. "Foucault on tragedy."Philosophy & Social Criticism(31):573-584.
Foucault,M. 1969. L'archoéologie du Savoir. Paris:Gallimard.
Foucault,M. 1980. Power-Knowledge:Selected Intervies and Other Writings 1972-1977, edited by Colin Gordon. New York:Harvester Press.
Foucault,M. 1983. "Preface."In G.Deleuze and F.Hurley Guattari, Anti Oedipus, translated by Robert Hurley,Mark Seem,and Helen R. Lane. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press:xi-xvi.
Foucault,M. 1998a. Power:Essential Works of Foucault:Vol.3,edited by James D.Faubion; translated by Robert Hurley. New York:The New Press.
Foucault,M.1998b. Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology:Essential Works of Focault Vol.2,edited by James D.Faubion;translated by Robert Hurley et al. New York:The New Press.
Foucault,M. 2001. Fearless Speech,edited by Joseph Pearson. LA:Semiotext(e).
Foucault,M. 2002. The Archeology of Knowledge,translated by A.M.Sheridan Smith. London and New York:Routledge.
Foucault,M. 2008. The Courage of the Truth:Lectures at the Collège de France, 1983-1984,translated by Graham Burchell. New York:Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault,M. 2013. Lectures on the Will to Know:Lectures at the Collège de France 1970-1971,and Oedipal Knowledge,translated by Graham Burchell. New York:Picador
Foucault,M. 2014a. On the Government of the Living:Lectures at the Collège de France 1979-1980,translated by Graham Burchell. New York:Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault,M. 2014b, Wrong-doing, Truth-telling:The Function of Avowal in Justice,translated by Stephen W.Sawyer. Chicago:The University of Chicago Press.
Legg, S.2016. "Subject to Truth:Before and After Governmentality in Foucault's 1970s." Environment & Planning D:Society & Space, 34(5):858-876
Konoval, B.2017. "From Sexuality to Governmentality:The Oedipus Complex of Michel Foucault." Modern Intellectual History 02 May:1-33.
Nietzsche, F. 1967. The Will to Power,translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J.Hollingdale. New York:Vintage Books.
Nietzsche, F. 1999. The Birth of Tragedies and other Writings,translated by Ronald Speirs. New York:Cambridge University Press.
Nietzsche, F. 2001. The Gay Science, translated J. Nauckhoff, New York:Cambridge.
Sluga, H. 2010. "‘I am only a Nietzschean’."In Foucault and Philosophy,edited by Timothy O'Leary and Christopher Falzon. West Sussex:Blackwell:36-59.
Veyne, P. 1993."The Final Foucault and His Ethics."Translated by C.Porter and A.I.Davidson. Critical Inquiry 20(1):1-9.

[1]	LI Rongshan. Power and Ethics: Reason of State in Max Weber's Sociology of Domination [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2020, 40(3): 1-31.
[2]	WANG Ruijing. Integrating Medicine and Rituals: The Operating Mechanism of the Medical System among the Akha [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2020, 40(1): 45-74.
[3]	HU Yuehan. An Analysis of Educational Test Scoring Standard Variation from the Perspective of Control Theory: A Case Study of History Subject Grading of College Entrance Examination in Province X [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2019, 39(5): 162-183.
[4]	MENG Qingyan. Who is in the Center of the Stage? Public Sentiment and Politics in Xiangsheng [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2019, 39(4): 1-34.
[5]	ZHU Wencheng. Foucault in Syracuse: The Subjective Practice in the Political Spirituality [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2019, 39(3): 154-182.
[6]	SHI Yunqing. “One Ruler Measures to the End”: Rule Hardening in Grassroots Governance——Taking a Pilot Project in Urban Renewal as an Example [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2019, 39(2): 31-57.
[7]	HUANG Xiaoxing, XIONG Huiling. The Dilemma of Social Service in the Context of Transitional Governance in China: The Case Study of Social Work Service in Z City [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2018, 38(4): 133-159.
[8]	PENG Yaping. The Paradox of Technical Governance: A Public Opinion Survey's Political Process and Its Results [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2018, 38(3): 46-78.
[9]	ZHANG Jing. Constructing the Idea of Organization:Thought Self-Check and Organizational Review of Cadres (1952-1960) [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2017, 37(5): 59-77.
[10]	YU Yi-wen. Stability-Instability Cycle and Impossible Trinity in the Chinese Empires: A Perspective from Risk Governance [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2017, 37(3): 85-102.
[11]	TAO Yu, HOU Linke, LIU Mingxing. The Control,Discretion,and Policy Implementation of Local Authorities in Rural China [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2016, 36(5): 107-130.
[12]	YEH Chi-jeng. Sociologist as a Story-Teller [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2016, 36(2): 77-98.
[13]	YANG Qingmei. The Ideas and Practices of “Yanching School” about Sociology of Knowledge: A Comparative Study on Wu Wenzao, Fei Xiaotong, and Li An-che#br# [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2015, 35(4): 103-.
[14]	CHEN Feng. The Hierarchy of Profit Division and Grassroots Governance Involution: The Logic of Rural Governance under the Background of the Resource Input [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2015, 35(3): 95-120.
[15]	FAN Yechao，HONG Dayong. DifferentialExposure，DifferentialOccupation，and Differential Experience：An Empirical Analysis on Differences in Chinese UrbanRural Residents’ Environmental Concern [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2015, 35(3): 141-167.

“From Ignorance to Guilt”: The Triple Interweaving of Knowledge-Power in Foucault's Analysis of Oedipus the King

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 15

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments