Dialectics of Madness: Foucault, Hegel, and the Opening of the Speculative

This paper aims to offer a preliminary account of the continuity between Hegel’s speculative philosophy in the Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) and Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical approach in the Histoire de la folie (1961). We seem to find a speculative dynamic in Foucault’s work, since his configuration of madness in the classical and modern age mark a path leading to self-awareness for Western rationality. Moreover, dialectical mediation seems at play in Foucault’s articulation of discourse: the encounter between poverty and unreason in the Hôpital and in Philippe Pinel’s asile can be considered as figures of dialectical movement. Further elements of continuity could be argued for based on the ways that “difference” and “discontinuity” take on enhanced meanings in the speculative context. The paper concludes by gesturing past continuity to outline some implications of how Hegel’s speculative opening looks beyond the dynamic of objectification.