From theory to discourse: neoliberalism and French thought of the 1960s and 1970s

• Grant number: 11/21771-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Eduardo Arantes
• Grantee: Nilton Ken Ota
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/11449-9 - From theory to social discourse: neoliberalism and French thought of the 1960s and 1970s, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The objective of the research proposed by this project is to discuss theoretically the standardization of social criticism. This phenomenon is one of the most significant political effects of the neoliberal mode of governance and, despite its importance, has been neglected in studies on the subject. What is intended here, otherwise, is to analyze the conversion of an intellectual critique into a hegemonic social discourse, a process that gives rise to a current and specific left neoliberalism. From this perspective, the legacy of the French thought of the 1960s and 1970s has a strategic value. From May 68, amid controversy and intense debate, the very figure of the intellectual has earned new historical significance. The "engagement" has changed so much that it was not possible to take it by the idea that the public interest would be in the custody of the consciousness of the intellectuals, in the sense and terms of what had hitherto represented the Sartrean existentialism. Under neoliberalism, the 68's critical repertoire turns to be captured by its apparatus of control. In this sense, it is appropriate to speak about a left neoliberalism and to recognize its French origin. Unusual in studies of the history of philosophy, this research will proceed to an analysis both of texts and the practical arrangements of the political engagement of intellectuals in that period. The intellectual prerogative of the French neoliberalism is revealed by the conversion of a theory in social discourse, hence the present relevance of the clinical anti-Oedipus devices in Deleuze and Guattari, Foucault's activism, the Lacanian School, objects of this research. (AU)