On homosexuality

A writer at The Cipher offers a fresh look at the debate between social constructionists and (biological) essentialists in determining homosexuality.

Under the impact of post-modern theorists, such as Michel Foucault, professional historians have been active participants in the essentialist-social constructionist debate, and with very few exceptions, their research has given further ammunition to social constructionists. Rather than continue this argument here, however, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on whether this discussion continues to be productive for historians. It may be time to move on and ask different kinds of historical questions.

TLS letters update

The TLS has a new letter on l’affaire Scull.

Sir, – Bravo! Andrew Scull did a masterful job of skewering Michel Foucault’s scholarly pretensions in “Scholarship of fools” (March 23). But at the risk of seeming ungrateful, one need not go to such lengths to discern how inflated Foucault’s reputation was. The central thesis of Madness and Civilization is simply untenable on the face of it. Foucault maintained that the discourse of reason about madness was at no point a dialogue with madness.

Empire and biopolitics

Someone has provided some useful notes on Chapter 1.2 of Hardt and Negri’s Empire. This is the chapter called “biopolitical production.”