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Michel de Certeau

Michel de Certeau Quotes

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Famous Michel de Certeau Quotes

“The sick man is taken away by the institution that takes charge not of the individual, but of his illness, an isolated object transformed or eliminated by technicians devoted to the defense of health the way others are attached to the defense of law and order or tidiness.”

MenWayLawOrderIndividualTakenObjectsSickInstitutionsIllnessDefenseTransformedIsolatedDevotedLaw And OrderTechniciansSick Man
Book:The Practice of Everyday Life
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“First, if it is true that a spatial order organizes an ensemble of possibilities (e.g., by a place in which one can move) and interdictions (e.g., by a wall that prevents one from going further), than the walked actualizes some of these possibilities. In that way, he makes them exist as well as emerge. But he also moves them about and he invents others, since the crossing, drifting away, or improvisation of walking privilege, transform, or abandon spatial elements.”

IfsWayFirstsWellsMovingOrderWalksJourneyPossibilityWallWalkingElementsPrivilegeWanderAbandonHikingOrganizeCrossingsImprovisationTrekkingStrollingDriftingSaunteringEnsembleSpatialDrifting AwayInterdiction
Book:The Practice of Everyday Life
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“A place (lieu) is the order (of whatever kind) in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence. It thus excludes the possibility of two thing being in the same location (place). The law of the 'proper' rules in the place: the elements taken into consideration are beside one another, each situated in its own 'proper' and distinct location, a location it defines. A place is thus an instantaneous configuration of positions. It implies an indication of stability.”

KindTwoLawOrderTakenPossibilityPositionElementsTwo ThingsConsiderationStabilityLocationAccordIndicationCoexistenceInstantaneousConfiguration
Book:The Practice of Everyday Life
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“They become liberated spaces that can be occupied. A rich indetermination gives them, by means of a semantic rarefaction, the function of articulating a second, poetic geography on top of the geography of the literal, forbidden or permitted meaning. They insinuate other routes into the functionalist and historical order of movement. Walking follows them: 'I fill this great empty space with a beautiful name.'”

GivingMeanBeautifulOrderNamesSpaceRichMovementWalkingEmptyFunctionHistoricalPoeticRoutesForbiddenGeographyLiberatedLiteralEmpty SpaceArticulating
Book:The Practice of Everyday Life
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