Georges Canguilhem and the Problem of Error

Samuel R. Talcott is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, USA.

Introduction.- 1. Canguilhem's Early Years: The Birth of Concrete, Political Problematization out of the Spirit of Resistant Philosophy Chapter.- 2. Canguilhem and the Philosophical Problem of Error Chapter.- 3. From Error in Biology to Psychological Illusion: Canguilhem's Epistemological History and the Early Foucault Chapter.- 4. Medicine and Experimentation in Canguilhem and Foucault: The Place of Disease in Modern Life Chapter.- 5. Intersections of the Concept and Literature in The Order of Things: Foucault and Canguilhem.- 6. The Education of Philosophy: From Canguilhem and The Teaching of Philosophy to Foucault's Discipline and Punish Chapter.- 7. Errant life, molecular biology, and biopower: Canguilhem, Jacob, and Foucault Chapter.- 8. Critical Resistances, Health and Truth in the Later Writings of Canguilhem and Foucault Ending Remarks.

"Samuel Talcott's work ... proposes a somewhat more speculative interpretation by following the way in which the concept of error unfolds and progressively colonizes Canguilhem's entire intellectual production. ... merit of Samuel Talcott's book is not only related to the effort to provide a systematic reading but also to the fact that it retraces the manner in which the problem of error is articulated in the early works of Canguilhem, which are not so well known to the general public." ( Codrin Taut, Foucault Studies, Issue 30, June, 2021)