Post-modernism, a French cultural chernobyl: Foucault on power/knowledge
Inquiry 37 (1):3 – 43 (1994)
| Abstract | Foucault appears to challenge traditional views of truth, reason, and knowledge in the doctrine of power/knowledge developed in his post?1970 writings. This doctrine applies to all the sciences (and to non?scientific and non?discursive practices that are not discussed here). Foucault's notions of discourse (1) and power (3) are sufficiently discussed to set out his explanatory theory of the cause of our discourses and their change. In (4) three theses concerning the power/knowledge link are distinguished, of which the more important is called the ?Primacy Thesis?, namely the causal priority of power over knowledge. Various formulations of this thesis are investigated, some of which are contrasted with Francis Bacon's more plausible account of the link between power and knowledge. In (5), six criticisms of the thesis are discussed. Foucault's notion of truth is explored on the way, more particularly in (6). The outcome of the discussion is that Foucault's doctrine of power/knowledge, apart from some insights for an empirically based sociological investigation into the causes of some of our scientific beliefs, is generally false; for philosophical theories of truth and knowledge it has nothing to say. In fact if Foucault is to be a critic of the beliefs which circulate as a result of power, he needs the traditional account of truth and knowledge | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesLotar Rasiński (2011). Power, Discourse, and Subject. The Case of Laclau and Foucault. Polish Journal of Philosophy 5 (1):117-136.
Grant Gillett (1995). Virtue and Truth in Clinical Science. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 20 (3):285-298.
Geoff Danaher (2000). Understanding Foucault. Sage Publications.
Ellen K. Feder (2004). The Discursive Production of the “Dangerous Individual”. Radical Philosophy Review 7 (1):17-39.
Wolfgang Detel (2005). Foucault and Classical Antiquity: Power, Ethics, and Knowledge. Cambridge University Press.
Chia-Ling Wang (2011). Power/Knowledge for Educational Theory: Stephen Ball and the Reception of Foucault. Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 (1):141-156.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-30Total downloads11 ( #99,573 of 549,128 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,361 of 549,128 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
