MICHEL FOUCAULT:

BIOGRAPHY AND WORK OF THIS FRENCH THINKER

Historian, psychologist, philosopher and social theorist, Michel Foucault was one of the great thinkers of
the 20th century, whose ideas had a great impact and exerted a great influence on the entire French cultural
environment of the time.
He was recognized worldwide for his ideas on social institutions, especially prisons, the health system and
psychiatry, as well as for his studies on human sexuality. Ideas that, together with his own biography and work,
we will review throughout this article.

Brief biography of Michel Foucault

Born on October 15, 1926 in the town of Poitiers, France, under the name of Paul-Michel Foucault, this
prestigious French thinker grew up in a formal environment in which studies and knowledge were considered
essential, since Foucault's father was a renowned French surgeon.
After an academic history full of ups and downs, Foucault managed to enter the famous École Normande
Supérieure, recognized for being one of the cradles of the best specialists and thinkers in the humanities in
France.
His stay at the École Normande was one of his most difficult stages. After suffering from depression and
several suicide attempts, Foucault was in the hands of a psychiatrist for a long time. During this period he
acquired a great passion for psychology, which led him to graduate in both psychology and philosophy.
After completing his university studies, Foucault obtained a teaching position at the École Normande.
However, his stay in this position was brief, and he subsequently took up a position as a professor of
psychology at the University of Lille, also in France.
After several more jobs, Foucault returned to France with the intention of finishing his doctorate, during which
he accepted a position in the philosophy department of the University of Clermont-Ferrand.
During this period of his life Foucault became a prolific writer, with most of his texts focusing on
psychology, psychiatry and mental health. While his later publications focused on topics related to politics,
social issues and sexuality.
Overcoming structuralism and the last years
During the years in which he was interested in structuralism, Foucault was considered part of the movement,
on the same level as some other great thinkers such as Jacques Lacan or Claude Lévi-Strauss. Despite this,
Foucault completely rejected the idea of being considered a defender of structuralism.
In 1968, the famous May student revolts broke out, events that deeply marked Foucault and after which he
obtained a position as head of the philosophy department of the newly created experimental university Paris
VIII. From here began his years of strong political activism.
Eventually, this philosopher was elected to the prestigious academic staff of the College of France,
increasing his involvement in political life and traveling around the world to give classes and lectures, including
his famous lectures and interviews in the United States and Iran.
During his later years, Foucault was criticized for having changed his ideas and opinions continually throughout
his life, which he defended as a natural phenomenon due to experience and the acquisition of knowledge.
Finally, Foucault died in 1984 due to AIDS, but not before destroying a large part of his manuscripts and
strictly prohibiting the publication of all those that might have "survived."

Power according to Foucault

Although Foucault initially focused mainly on psychological and mental health issues, as well as on the
institutions that control it, his most important and recognized contributions are in the field of social sciences
and politics.
Because he lived during a time of great change and social upheaval, Foucault was very interested in the
present to which he belonged. Making exceptional reflections on the systems and power relations of the time.
First of all, it is necessary to specify that when speaking of power, Foucault does not limit himself only to
governmental power or that of institutions, but also encompasses the power relations that occur in all areas
of society, also known as social power.
This social power is made up of a large network of small spheres of power, situated below the great powers
such as the government or the church. According to Foucault, these subspheres of power are found at different
levels and support each other to manifest themselves in subtle and cunning ways.
However, according to the thinker himself, the main obstacle to carrying out a revolution is the maintenance of
power relations as they were at the time, calling for an examination and analysis of these power relations
of a social nature.
In one of his publications known as The Microphysics of Power (1980), Foucault reviews these power relations
through two different dynamics of domination:
 Contract: it materializes in the power of an oppressive and legal type. Based on the legitimacy of this.
 Domination: It is established in terms of repression and submission.
Foucault insists that the conflict is not only found in governmental power, but also in all the substructures with
power relations within them that sustain it.
Following this idea, Foucault insists that analyses of power relations should not start from governmental
power, but rather it is necessary to begin with the smaller subspheres of power that feed it and make its
maintenance possible.
Finally, Foucault determines that the main role of thinkers is within society, accompanying it in the fight against
the forms of power that exist within it.

Main works of this philosopher

As previously mentioned, Foucault distinguished himself as a prolific writer. Below, we review some of his most
relevant works.
1. History of madness in the classical age (1961)
Foucault's first major work, in which he analyses and reviews the treatment given to the concept of madness
throughout history, emphasizing the evolution of the treatment given to the sick.
2. Words and Things (1966)
In this work by Foucault, the thinker reflects on how all historical periods are distinguished by presenting a
series of fundamental conditions of truth that establish what is acceptable, and how these conditions evolve
and change over time.
3. The archaeology of knowledge (1969)
Another of the most relevant works of the French thinker in which he carries out an examination or analysis of
the functionality and power of sentences as basic units of discourse.
4. Discipline and Punish (1975)
Throughout this work, the functioning of penitentiary institutions is analyzed and reflected upon, with the
intention of understanding the evolution that the ways in which convicts are punished have experienced over
the years.
5. History of sexuality (1976, 1984)
This work by Foucault is materialized in three different volumes in which the use of sexuality within a regime of
power is reviewed, as well as the use of sexual pleasures throughout history.
When Foucault died in 1984, he was writing the fourth volume of these reflections, which focused on sexuality
and Christianity.