What is Foucault

This chapter surveys the influence and thinking of Hannah Arendt and Che Guevara regarding education. Despite their many differences, both thinkers are surprisingly similar in seeing authority in an ideal community as self-justifying and therefore authorizing a certain amount of repression by the state. The essay turns to the later thinking of Michel Foucault and his theory of a utopian liberalism to provide individuals a way to both join in but not be subjugated by larger collectivities. The chapter concludes that universities can embrace a form of Foucault's utopianism and allow the left and right to debate their respective positions and not need to censor views except in the most extreme cases. The goal in free speech should be to make students into thinking subjects.