Abstract

This essay explores Foucault's critique of binary and antagonistic modes of thinking with regard to Cold War's confrontational discourses and the politics of détente. Discussing and confronting Foucault's 1975–1976 lectures Society Must Be Defended with Carl von Clausewitz' conception of war and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, the author argues that Foucault shaped his idea of politics as "the continuation of war by other means" against the backdrop and in strict opposition to Cold War's inescapable antagonisms.

Keywords: binarism, clausewitz, cold war, genealogy, leviathan, Foucault, Hobbes

How to Cite: Kilian, Patrick. "Der Kalte Krieg und die 'binären Termini.'" Le foucaldien 1, no. 1(2015): 1–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.5 [Note: In 2022, Le foucaldien relaunched as Genealogy+Critique.]