Chapter 4

1. The Psyche. Butler worries that Foucault “does not address the issue of ‘the psychic form that power takes’” (73). What is the philosophical status of the concept of the psychic? Is this a thoroughly historicizable concept, such that ‘the psychic’ is a feature of some group of people like ‘We Victorians’ or ‘we moderns’ or some such? Or is this a philosophically heavy concept, perhaps a structuralist concept, such that ‘the psychic’ is a category or container that takes historically variable forms?

2. Normative distinctions. It is suggested that “what is required is a distinction between subordination as a normatively problematic relationship and dependency as a normatively neutral one” (84; cf. 78 top). There was a question about the political (and, more broadly, normative?) implications and ramifications of the appeal to the psychic in Butler? If we want to move toward a psychoanalytic conception of psychic capacities (e.g., capacity of vulnerability), then how do we cash that conception out in terms of a project engaging normative critique?