Jean Baudrillard
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Life
Jean Baudrillard (27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is often described as post-modern or post-structural. But because he would not be a part of one movenment, he was always a outsider. In 1968 he became a student of the philosopher Henri Lefebvre. After this period he became a professor on the European graduate school.
His major books in English are 'Simulations', 'Fatal Strategies', 'Impossible Exchange' and 'The Intelligence of Evil'. Baudrillard is relevant to the actiontheoretical framework because of his famous publication about the Simulacrumtheory and because of his critique on Michel Foucault.
Simulacrumtheory
This theory questions the reality of images on the public media. This theory is about the authenticity and reality of images we think we know. Baudrillard argues that people lose contact with the real world because we base most of our ideas on images we see in de media. We don’t see these images ourselves but we base the on film and media, and these are created by people so they aren't real according Baudrillard argumentation. This theory can be seen as critique on today’s modern world, where society is been hugely influenced by the media that spread the news as if it is the only truth. That’s in contrast of postmodern thinkers who believe that each story or news fact has a backside, and there are always different sides on an event.
Example
The development of nuclear weapons as they are used as power-symbols to prevent other states from attacking. These weapons would only be useful in a hyper-real sense, a reference with no real referent, since they are always meant to be reproducible but are never intended to be used.
Critique on Foucault
Baudrillard has upset all existing theories of contemporary society with scathing humor and clinical precision. He also criticized Michel Foucault by replying on the book History of Sexuality. In History of Sexuality the terms desire and power are central in explaining human behavior in a certain way. However Baudrillard claims that the power and desire are interchangeable, so desire had no place in Foucault’s work. And he said that no intellectual can describe an vague concept as ‘power’ as precise as Foucault tries to do.
References
Douglas, K. (2005). "Jean Baudrillard". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Founded on 16 october, on http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/baudrillard/>.
Contributions
Edited by Lotte den Boogert, 16 october 2012.
Edited by Doris Roelvink, 25 october 2012.
Picture added by Doris Roelvink, 25 october 2012.
