Michel Foucault
Short Biography
• Born in 1926 to upper middle class parents in
Poitiers, France
• Homosexual; died of aids in 1984
• Highly educated
• -studied/taught psychology
– Later was a radical activist
– Was bullied constantly by peers giving him many
of his ideas on power/knowledge
Major beliefs
• Identity-no such thing.
– Humans have characteristics that relate to one
another but are not defined in whole by these
characteristics
– Eg. Being a woman/gay is not one’s “identity”, it is
simply a characteristic about them
– Saw identity as a form of exercising power and
preventing “labeled groups” from moving forward
• Us vs. them mentality
– Rejected labels and using labels as an argument for
equality
Power/Knowledge
• “relation not a thing”
• Foucault rejected idea that power was held by a
particular group to “lord over another group”
• At every level of humanity; even micro levels
– not property of a state or institution
– No such thing as power without resistance
– All forms of knowledge =ideology
Ideology made up of one’s knowledge of the world
-Power produces knowledge of inferiority
Power is not possible without knowledge of some kind.
Discipline
• Major work: The Birth of the Prison
• Thesis: discipline is another way to exercise
power
• Modern prisons: focused on discipline by
observation rather then physical punishment
of the body(related to behaviorism)
• Prisoners behaved because they knew they
could be observed(again POWER)
Homosexuality
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Major Work: History of Sexuality
Foucault himself was gay
Hated being “labeled” as gay as if this was his sole identity
Went further then advocating for equality; did not want
homosexuality to be a defining characteristic
• Individuals made to feel their sexuality was wrong because
of the knowledge/power connection
Controversial: but agree or disagree? This is a very modern
argument for the homosexual rights movement. Thus, it is
very relevant.
Response to Feminism
• Rejected it because he rejected traditional ideologies in any
form
• Simone de Beouvior “men had made women to be the other”
– Foucault disagreed because of his power and identity
arguments
Virginia Wolf
-slightly on the same page as Wolf in the sense that he
advocated equality but, again, disagreed with the women
vs. men argument.
“freedom is a practice rather then a goal to be achieved”
Response to Marxism
• 'Marxism exists in nineteenth century thought
like a fish in water: that is, it is unable to breathe
anywhere else' and that it was a mere 'storm ... in
a children's paddling pool' (The Order of Things,
p. 262).
• Problem was not the rich overruling the poor
because power did not rest solely in the state; it
rests in knowledge/power
• Rejected focusing solely on economic injustices
• Discussion: Do you agree more with Marx or
Foucault on the roots of power?
Structuralism/post modernism
• Structuralism: studying systems of the world in
manageable parts
• Postmodernism-rejected most philosophical
cornerstones
• -focus on the history of how these ideas came into
place rather then “finding the answers”
• -rejected enlightenment
• -rejected romanticism
• Foucault refused to be labeled but he’s associated
with these two movements
Discussion(Test Questions)
• How did Foucault's philosophies relate to and
or contradict Marxism and Feminism
• In what ways are Foucault's beliefs related to
structuralism? In what ways are they related
to modernism? Does he sway more one way
or the other?
Works cited/ Suggested Links
• Michel Foucault. http://www.michel-foucault.com/ April
24th 2009. -broad database with biography, and analysis of
major works
• Michel Foucault.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/ Stanford. April
24 2009l This site has a great summary of Foucault's views
in depth
• Welcome to the World of Foucault.
http://www.csun.edu/~hfspc002/foucault.home.html
CSUN. 2009.This site contains a genealogy of Foucault's
work
• Foucault. http://www.foucault.info/ April 24 2009.Even
more information on Foucault!
Other Consulted works
• Michel Foucault Resources.
http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/foucault.
htm. April 24th 2009.
•
Foucault.http://www.protevi.com/john/Fouca
ult/. Protevi. April 24th 2009.