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Michel Foucault
French philosopher / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michel Foucault (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher and historian. He wrote about many topics, and influenced many other thinkers.
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Michel Foucault | |
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![]() Foucault in 1974 | |
Born | Paul-Michel Foucault 15 October 1926 Poitiers, France |
Died | 25 June 1984(1984-06-25) (aged 57) Paris, France |
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Notable work |
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Partner | Daniel Defert |
Era | 20th-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
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Institutions |
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Doctoral advisor | Georges Canguilhem |
Main interests | Ethics, historical epistemology, history of ideas, philosophy of literature, philosophy of technology, political philosophy |
Notable ideas | Biopower (biopolitics), disciplinary institution, discourse analysis, discursive formation, dispositif, épistémè, "archaeology", "genealogy", governmentality, heterotopia, gaze, limit-experience, power-knowledge, panopticism, subjectivation (assujettissement), parrhesia, epimeleia heautou, visibilités |
Influenced
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Foucault studied institutions such as psychiatric wards, hospitals, schools, and prisons, to figure out how they affected the people living in them. He was gay. He also studied the history of sexuality and, later in his life, wrote about homosexuality.
He is often called a postmodernist or post-structuralist philosopher. Some philosophers claim that some of his ideas were influenced by existentialism. However, Foucault rejected all of these labels.