Professor's book has new take on philosopher

Pickett’s hardbound book, “On the Use and Abuse of Foucault for Politics,” came off the presses in March. The book centers on Michel Foucault, a Frenchman whom Pickett says was the world’s “foremost 20th century neo-Nietzschean.”

Foucault, who lived from 1926 to 1984, has become known in political science circles for some radical ideas, and holding that “basic truths” about human nature and society have changed during the course of history.

“His defenders usually take him to be an anarchist, but if you look at his entire life, taking the last four years into account, there is actually much evidence that he supported participatory democracy,” Pickett said.

Although Foucault was known for being a radical revolutionary in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pickett said his views later became more moderate. To support this, Pickett notes that Foucault was pleased with France’s election of Francois Mitterand in 1981.

The 133-page book is a revision of Pickett’s doctoral dissertation which he developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the early 1990s.

Pickett said the book will be most useful for specialists in Foucault and students of postmodernism and democratic theory.

“Foucault is typically very difficult to understand,” Pickett said. “I believe that I’ve written a very readable introduction to the study of his thought.”

Edward B. Portis, a political science professor at Texas A&M University, is quoted on the publication’s cover: “This book is clearly among the best I have read on Foucault, and from the perspective of a political theorist it is certainly the most useful.”

 

Pronunciation: Michel (Michelle) Foucalt (foo-coo)