[Music] i talk about foucault a lot on this channel and well i'm going to talk about him again today we're going to look at a 1977 text which i think is a succinct introduction to a part of his method to nietzsche's influence on him and by proxy to the method i've been heavily influenced by as you can see most distinctly in my modernity series i think the essay is nietzsche genealogy and history and in it foucault criticizes the traditional historical method and makes an argument for why a genealogical approach is important so what is genealogy it's a history of us of the attitudes and dispositions we embody today the way we approach and do things these things often seem like they don't have a history that they're human nature that they're normal eternal unchangeable genealogy attempts to uncover how they've changed over time how there are different ways of approaching them genealogy uncovers how they're not the way they are because they've gradually improved say they're not part of an inevitable linear progression through history towards some ideal teleological state they are contingent genealogy often examines attitudes beliefs presuppositions morality discipline sexuality for example it addresses a traditional history that assumes simple movement forward over time it draws out uncovers and critically examines the origins of a specific conception of what's morally good say or the source of a particular way of disciplining societal criminality or the genesis of attitudes about what it means to be a feminine woman for example foucault is influenced by nietzsche the first person to show that morality our ideas of what's good and bad has a history has changed over time foucault is searching for the origins of the genealogical method in nietzsche nietzsche uses the german word earthsprung for origins he uses the word when he's searching for the origins the earthsprung of something like religion or morality but at the beginning of his most important text the genealogy of morality nietzsche uses the word it means the same origins but nietzsche clearly wants to draw a distinction between the two ways of using the word for co nietzsche clearly wants to problematize the idea of a single meaning to the word origin an origin foucault writes is an attempt to capture the exact essence of things their purest possibilities and their carefully protected identity finding an origin finds a primordial truth and an original identity history though tells us otherwise this is a fallacy there are no perfect origins foucault writes that examining the history of reason he learns that it was born in an altogether reasonable fashion from chance devotion to truth and the precision of scientific methods arose from the passion of scholars their reciprocal hatred their fanatical and unending discussions and their spirit of competition the personal conflict that slowly forged the weapons of reason he goes on we tend to think that this is the moment of their greatest perfection when they emerged dazzling from the hands of a creator in the shadowless light to the first morning origins he's saying are made up of chants passions hatreds fanatical and unending discussions the spirit of competition personal conflicts not perfection not from the shadowless light of a first morning nietzsche wrote that we wished to awaken the feeling of man's sovereignty by showing his divine birth this path is now forbidden since a monkey stands at the entrance now nietzsche was writing just after darwin had published on the origin of species the theological view before this supposes that everything has meaning a plan that origins like the origin of man and adam and eve say makes sense somehow now he says a monkey stands at the entrance what both are saying is that any historical moment is made up of a jumble of intentions accidents errors ideas places and people a storm take the history of the police as i've done in this previous video rather than being part of a natural progression towards a peaceful harmonious society an examination of the origins of the police exposes contingencies accidents causes that even those involved weren't aware of foucault says that genealogy must account for this to unmask the errors and accidents so that we can be aware of them he writes the genealogists needs history to dispel the chimeras of the origin so nietzsche uses three different words when he's referring to an origin engsterhung herrhampt and ursbram excuse my german pronunciation earl sprung is used in a generic way to refer to an origin or its impossibility but here comfort and engsterhung are used in a more precise way so how does he differentiate between them herchampt is used to describe descent or stock usually when talking about race or social group what are the origins of englishness for example foucault says that in this sense descent attaches itself to the body it inscribes in itself in the nervous system and temperament in the digestive apparatus it appears in faulty respiration in improper diets in the debilitated and prostrate body of those whose ancestors committed errors so in this sense the her comfort of englishness determines much about what we eat how we respond to things it affects our very physiology he says we believe in any event that the body obeys the exclusive laws of physiology and that it escapes the influence of history but this too is false the body is moulded by a great many distinct regimes it is broken down by the rhythms of work rest and holidays it is poisoned by food or values through eating habits or moral laws it constructs resistances the body manifests the stigmata of past experience and also gives rise to desires failings and errors so genealogy is meant to expose those errors to expose a body totally imprinted by history and the process of history's destruction of the body but nietzsche also uses the word instagram usually used as emergence enschedung is a beginning an eruption made up of many sides usually incomprehensible an ensta hung is a place of such an interrelated complex dynamic that no one can be solely responsible for it it comes as fuco says from a non-place the interplay of competing interests foucault notes how there is a single drama when a new idea or event develops the domination between people the differences between values the hierarchy of domination authority all fixed in rituals and obligations duty he writes the successes of history belong to those who are capable of seizing these rules who is right who gets listened to and why who has the liberty to say to do to enforce this he says is the purpose of genealogy history becomes effective to the degree that it introduces discontinuity into our very being as it divides our emotions dramatizes our instincts multiplies our body and sets it against itself effective history deprives the self of the reassuring stability of life and nature in other words showing the chaotic origins of what remains in us allows us to more effectively address our issues today so how should one be aware of the impossibilities of finding origins foucault outlines what he calls a historical sense he says that historians take unusual pains to try to remove themselves from their work to hide their grounding in a particular time and place to obscure their preferences and their tastes they try not to be insensitive about the most disgusting things he says in other words they pretend they are valueless non-judgmental unbiased foucault is criticizing the objective historians position they claim to be above history greater than its pettiness evil and misfortune able to read it from a god's eye view the historian argues that the superlative present is the best position to view history from from this position historians look at history as if it's continuous logical has origins and causes that can be described that the truth in them is accessible and makes sense against this foucault suggests a new historical sense one that acknowledges the complicated notion of causality and origin take the great man theory of history for example it depicts giant figures like napoleon or hitler who are pulling the strings in control the origin of a certain course in history or a set of ideas history has also traditionally offered models for emulation like jesus or caesar again we must avoid this temptation however much we respect or identify ourselves in others it's more difficult than it sounds though we all have idols even if it's not conscious we must acknowledge the storm of plurality that went into the ideas or movements these figures represent the future is new we must disassociate ourselves from these figures break free from history the identities we inherited from history are not inevitable not set in stone we must acknowledge as nietzsche wrote that we possess in oneself not an immortal soul but many mortal ones fuco writes that in each of these souls history will not discover a forgotten identity eager to be reborn but a complex system of distinct and multiple events unable to be mastered by the powers of synthesis some of the knowledge we've inherited from this complex past must be sacrificed acknowledge that the knowledge was the result of a will to knowledge knowledge that wasn't simply objective but was the result of instinct passion chance the inquisitor's devotion crawler subtlety and malice too in other words what was what happened was the result of people's subjective emotions desires and needs it wasn't inevitable wasn't eternal truth and so can be rethought reinterpreted and reshaped for a different future hey everyone i feel very lucky to be able to say that i'm finally at the point where i can commit full time to making these videos um it's a great honor to be able to do that i absolutely love doing it i'm going to make two or three videos a month and continue to improve the quality and the research and do a few more experiments and chats and rambles in between but it is a 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