Foucault’s lectures grew spontaneously from problem-questions rather than plans

Evidence

The manuscript consists of “blocks of thought” that Foucault used as markers, pomts of reference, and guidelines. He often improvised around them, developing or expanding on this or that point, anticipating the next lecture and going back to others. One also has the impression that he did not work to a preestablished plan, but tended, rather, to begin with a problem or certain problems, and that the lecture developed “on the spot” through a sort of spontaneous generation. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 302

Categorization

• XREF: Craft detail useful for reading the Islamophobia field texts that build on Foucault — knowing the lectures are improvised problematizations rather than systematic treatises affects how to interpret them. — connects to: Theory develops unevenly, paced by practical necessities rather than its own logic; Heidegger staged his lectures as controlled theatre and derided spontaneous discussion — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 191; College de France lectures served as open research fields distinct from Foucault’s books — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 97

Related

• College de France lectures served as open research fields distinct from Foucault’s books (similarity 0.88)
• Foucault’s lecture style made students feel no obligation or guilt (similarity 0.80)
• Foucault’s public lectures reached huge audiences but frustrated genuine exchange. (similarity 0.80)
• Heidegger staged his lectures as controlled theatre and derided spontaneous discussion (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Theory develops unevenly, paced by practical necessities rather than its own logic #corroborates (0.82)