Michel Foucault

In the case of Herculine Barbin, Michel Foucault explores that from a medical perspective, a doctor when facing such a case as hermaphroditism, is not concerned with the presence of the two juxtaposed genders, but rather seeks to ‘[decipher] the true sex that [is] hidden’ beneath the ambiguous…

History of Ideas Sanat RIMT2012039 1.) Analyse how Michel Foucault’s ideas on “objectification of subject” can be used to critically understand foundations of Freudian Psychoanalysis. Michel Foucault(1926-1984) was a French philosopher, philologist and literary critic. His theories focuses on relationship between power and knowledge, and their application by institutions to achieve control over the society. To analyze the phenomena of power, Foucault describes three modes of objectification…

mixtures. This was done by supervision and discipline. Discipline is described as an effective agent of change, such as increasing power, and broadening the fronts of attacks with out reducing strength. Discipline is what brings power into play. Foucault believes, "the disciplines function increasingly as techniques for making useful individuals." The abuse of power in our society is shown through the whole prison system as well. Not just in this writing but also in our every day life. It…

them. It is the fact of being constantly seen that maintains the disciplined individual in his subjection (Foucault, 1979, p. 187). Question Is it possible for a docile and adversely scrutinised performance management, dictated by a governmentality regime, through a dominitatory appraisal system, to allow for growth in an educational system and organisation? Performance management…

There are many differing views about democracy, but “currently, there are three prominent streams within pragmatic political philosophy: Deweyan democratic perfectionism, Rortyan ironism, and pragmatist epistemic deliberativism” (Talise 2014 123) that provide for the conception of liberal democracy and its implementation. Though each of these philosophical explanations offer their own unique conception of democracy along with how to fulfill democracy’s enactment, pragmatist epistemic…

Essay I: Ideology, a term that we all know exists, but very few truly understand the essence that lies behind such a word. Many questions arise when one thinks of ideology such as, but not limited to, “What is ideology?” and “Where do individuals come to acquire their ideology, as in is it born into the genetics that make up who they are, or is it created through the experiences of their life?”. Louis Althusser was a 20th century French philosopher that devoted much of his life to the study of…

The body in the closet Visibility is not simply about the recognition, identification and categorization of bodies, but it is also how bodies negotiate and exist within systems of power. These are the very dynamics which regulate the invisibility of certain bodies as well. The idea of the ‘closet’ which Sedgwick develops, points at how complicated the promise of invisibility inside the closet and visibility outside the closet is. According to her, culture can be understood through the…

Foucault was after the concept of a “pure community” he found the existence of a whole set of techniques and institutions for measuring and supervising abnormal beings, as well as bringing into play the disciplinary mechanisms created by fear. All modern mechanisms for controlling abnormal individuals derive from these. Sao Foucault’s overall thoughts on this concept maybe similar to that of the Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, a building with a tower at the center from which it is possible to see…

Foucault discusses many concepts in the first volume of his book; The History of Sexuality. According to Foucault, there are four rules of which power deploys in terms of sexuality; the one I will discuss is Tactical Polyvalence. I will explain what this rule means, as well as how it applies to everyday life. The final rule of the deployment of power, tactical polyvalence, is a challenging term to understand. First, to break down the rule itself, I will define the term word by word. Tactical is…

in turning the body into an obedient machine that will serve the necessities of a given civilization. Philosopher Michael Foucault describes this scheme, composed by three main techniques: “the scale of the control, the object of the control and the modality”(Foucault, pp. 331-332). Although the explanation of this scheme is presented in terms of military training as Foucault expands on each of the techniques, these can also be appreciated in our daily lives and more importantly in the current…