Power: Michel Foucault

 

Introduction:

 

 

The book which I select as a topic of review is “Power” and it is written by Michel Foucault. This book is the collection of the lectures and writing of Michel Foucault during the period of 1954 till 1984. This book shows the post-modern vision of philosophy. Almost all previous traditions depend on ontology or traditional modern epistemology. But the episteme of post-modernism is entirely different than all other rational traditions of philosophy. Post-modernists are anti-essentialist and also anti-humanist because the rejected almost all basic fundamental principles of modernism. But there are some similarities between modernism and post-modernism especially in Foucault’s thought. Postmodernist admits freedom as philosophical good just like modernist. Foucault said according to his own writing that freedom is in our blood. And the one who admits freedom as a philosophical good then naturally he admits the existing political good which we call Democracy. And this position also expresses in Foucault’s thought. And Foucault was a French post-modern thinker. But the issue of power is his basic intellectual work. He claimed that the conception of power was misconceived in West. Generally power conceived as a negative thing in all rational system but Foucault claimed that it is not true. In my assignment I will explained that how Foucault established that conception of power was misconceived in West.   

 

Power misconceived in West

            According to Foucault normally in the West the term “power” is used a symbol of state authority, government institutions. He uses the term juridical for this sense. The term juridical is broad in his philosophy but I compress it in these words.

             Juridical term is concerned about political justice, rights, legitimating, legislation and applying forces of legislation.

            I mean the term “power” is used in that sense in his thought..

 

He says:  “It was posed only in term of constitution sovereignty

, and so on, that is in juridical term”. (Michel Foucault, “Power” volume iii Page 117)

  Foucault concerns in his early work about the archeology [episteme] or the condition of knowledge. He never uses the term “power” in his early work.

              We can say that there is no clear and apparent work in his early period about the conception of “power”.       

              But he says there is implicit notion of power in his previous philosophy.

 

He describes “power” in “Madness and civilization” but in implicit manner as a notion prevention or restriction of disorder in society. He uses the term repression, because he discovers “power” in his early work as a notion of repression.

Foucault says: “When I wrote Madness and civilization, I made at least an implicit use of this notion of repression”. (Ibid Page 119,120)

  He shows power as a notion of repression in his early period. But in latter he admits that the notion of repression is not very educated view for exploring the productive aspect of power. And this view of repression is same to the western traditional view of power that is not positive but negative.

                                         

He referrers it in these words: “West has insisted for so long on seeing the power it exercises as juridical and negative rather than as technical and positive”. (Ibid Page 121)

            In West leftists just like Marxists also conceive power as a state apparatus.

He referrers it on this way: “On the Marxist side, it was posed only in terms of the state apparatus”. (Michel Foucault, “Power” volume iii Page 117)

            According to Foucault Marxists conceive “power” as a state mechanism power is not negative as evil itself but those who operate and actualize it hey are not common people but dominant class. They

Operate state apparatus and use the power not for the welfare of people

 or society but for their own interest.  They exploited people and because of it they are exploiting class. According to Marxists in modern era this dominant class is capitalists.

Foucault mentions it in these words: “Power in western capitalism was denounced by the Marxists as class dominant”. (Michel Foucault, “Power” volume iii Page 117)

 That’s why the effect of state apparatus or power is not positive.

 

According to Foucault it is not a productive but also a negative view of power. Because any one who conceives power as a state apparatus so he conceives power as a repressive mechanism.

 

He establishes:   “If one describe all there phenomena of power as dependent on the state apparatus, this means grasping them as essentially repressive”. (Ibid Page 122)

He says:

“I believe that it is precisely these positive mechanism that need to be investigated, and here not must free oneself of the juridical schemata’s of all precious characterization of the nature of power”. (Michel Foucault, “Power” volume iii Page 121)

            “Power” consists on the relations of the individuals and the relations of the individuals make power relations. Power relations produce the network of power and state consists on this network of power. So it means that the power is above and beyond the limits of the state apparatus.

Therefore he says:

“I want to say in that relation of power and hence the analysis that must be made of them, necessarily extend beyond the limits of the

State______ because the state, for all the omnipotence of its apparatus, is far from being able to occupy the whole Field of actual power relations”. (Ibid Page 123)

 

            There fore juridical sense of “power” is quite uneducated that’s why Foucault established that mechanism of “power” been never analysis in west.

 

He establishes: “The mechanics of power in themselves were never analyzed”. (Michel Foucault, “Power” volume iii Page 117)