The Austrian writer Jean Améry (1912–1978) was one of the earliest skeptical observers of contemporary trends in French philosophy in the 20th century. His essays can be considered both a dialogue with existentialism and an attempt to create a phenomenology of the existence of the victim after Auschwitz. In contrast to structuralism in general and namely directed against Michel Foucault, Améry insisted on the freedom of the subject and its particular experience. This paper examines Améry's criticism of Foucault's early thinking and connects Foucault's later conception of the subject with Améry's reflections on philosophical criticism.

Lukas Brandl: "Festhalten am Menschen: Jean Amérys Kritik an Michel Foucault," in: Le foucaldien, 6/1 (2020), DOI: 10.16995/lefou.76