Abstract

There exists, within Foucault studies, a widespread, misleading and unrecognized conflation of the deathsof man and the subject in Foucault’s thought. The treatment of these notions as interchangeable has, in turn,given rise to a confused discussion of Foucault’s departure from and return to the subject. This paperconsiders the discussion of the deaths of man and the subject within Foucault studies and seeks to clarifythis discussion in the context of Foucault’s own works. In so doing, this work seeks to demonstrate theconfusion with which these terms are used in the literature and the misunderstandings of Foucault’s broaderthought that arise from that confusion, specifically with respect to the creation of a largely fictionalFoucauldian “departure from and return to the subject.”