Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a post-modernist French philosopher and is considered one of the most influential philosophers of modern times. Aside from his critiques of social institutions, his influence can be seen in both the humanities and social sciences. A central theme of Foucault's work is the relationship between power and knowledge, more specifically, how power controls and defines knowledge.
As an observer and critic of both the penal system and mental institutions, Foucault believed that "schools serve the same function as prisons and mental institutions — to define, classify, control and exploit people" (Despeyroux 78). He held that society and social institutions are controlled through relations of power. While some critics view him as being pessimistic, to Foucault, the value of philosophy, if organized according to his methods, is a means of changing the balance of authority over the individual through the exposure of the power structures intended to control us.
Life
Paul-Michel Foucault was born in Poitiers, France, on 15 October 1926, the second child of Anne Malapert and Paul Foucault, a prominent and wealthy surgeon and professor of anatomy. His father wanted the young Michel to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor, but claiming his ambitions were affected by World War II, Foucault thought otherwise. He entered the distinguished graduate school École Normale Supérieure in 1946, graduating in 1951 with degrees in philosophy and psychology. It was while he was a student that he allegedly made his first attempt at suicide, which, according to one historian, demonstrated a self-destructive tendency in his character (Oliver, 178).
After graduating, he left France to escape the conservative sexual mores of the post-war French culture. He chose, instead, to travel for several years, teaching in Sweden, Poland, and Germany. He returned to France in 1960 and taught philosophy and psychology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand. He published his first book Madness and Civilization, an analysis of the treatment of madness in the Middle Ages and beyond.
In 1970, he was elected to the most prestigious Collège de France, but by the late 1970s, a disillusioned Foucault quit teaching and traveled the world until he died of an AIDS-related disease in 1984. Jeremy Stangroom in his The Great Philosophers wrote that Foucault lived his life as if he were driven by the need to "transcend both physical and cultural limits" (155)
Grave of Michel Foucault
ManoSolo13241324 (CC BY-NC-SA)
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