Power and Ethics: Finding Freedom through Critique

In this book, the authors review Foucault’s philosophy on power and ethics to investigate the possibility of restructuring freedom available to the subject. Foucault’s Kantian inspired view of critique as an art of voluntary inservitude, of reflective indocility is discussed in relation to biopolitics, bioethics, artificial intelligence, and bureaucracy. This work of freedom is a process of self-creation where the subject seeks to rearrange power relations and open possibilities for autonomy and agency. This book shows how the critical attitude identifies limitations of power to open the possibility for transgression as an escape from normalised submission. This involves revealing and exposing unrecognised forms of power manipulating the subject to uncover and enable new ways to think differently. Psychoanalysis combined with Foucault is also applied to enhance an understanding of power relations and the task of an ethics of freedom. This is then integrated with a philosophy of place to better understand the relationship between home, self-creation, ethics, and freedom. The book shows that Foucault’s philosophy has important relevance to the writings of Heidegger, Lacan, Kafka, Freud, Aristotle, Jung and Arendt and is essential reading for students and professionals in politics, ethics, phenomenology and psychoanalysis.

Matthew Gildersleeve Ph.D. teaches and conducts research at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. His doctoral thesis was written on reading Jung with Heidegger. His past research has focused on making connections between the philosophies of Heidegger, Nietzsche, Jung, Freud, Lacan, Hegel and Zizek. He has edited a collection for Peter Lang entitled Philosophy of Place and he has published articles in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, The Humanistic Psychologist, Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, Quadrant: The Journal of the CG Jung Foundation, and Philosophy Now.

Andrew Crowden Ph.D. is a Bioethicist and Philosopher. He is Honorary Professor in Philosophy at the University of Queensland’s School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, where he is Chairperson of the University of Queensland Ethics Advisory Group. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast where he is Chairperson of the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). He is Chairperson of the WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) HREC, an executive member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Research Ethics Committee and a member of CSIRO’s Australian Health Biobank Advisory Group. He is Lead for the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law Research and Innovation Stream, a member of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) Philosophy in the Community Committee and is Director and Lead Consultant at Crowden Consultants.