Michel Foucault – författare

'Imaginative, illuminating and innovative' The New York Times Book ReviewThe grisly spectacle of public executions and torture of centuries ago has been replaced by the penal system in western society - but has anything really changed?In his revolutionary work on control and power relations in our public institutions, Michel Foucault argues that the development of prisons, police organizations and legal hierarchies has merely changed the focus of domination from our bodies to our souls. Even schools, factories, barracks and hospitals, in which an individual's time is controlled hour by hour, are part of a disciplinary society. 'Foucault's genius is called forth into the eloquent clarity of his passions ... his best book' Washington Post

Denna femte översedda och ombrutna upplaga innehåller för första gången illustrationerna ur den franska originalutgåvan.

Varför intar fängelset en så dominerande plats i dagens straffsystem? Den frågan står i centrum för Michel Foucaults Övervakning och straff (Surveiller et punir), den kanske mest inflytelserika i hans långa rad av civilisationskritiska undersökningar.

Den övergång från brutala kroppsstraff till fängelsestraff, som upplysningsmännen såg som en seger för humanism och förnuft, vill Foucault tvärtom se som följden av en ny och effektivare disciplinering av människorna. Denna strävan går igen på en rad områden, från 1600-talet och framåt: skolväsendet, arméerna och inte minst fabrikerna. När kroppsstraffen ersätts med fängelsestraff och fångvård innebär det att en äldre form av maktutövning ersätts av en ny och än mer långtgående, som ytterst syftar till människornas fullständiga normalisering och anpassning till det nya produktionssystemets krav. I fängelseinstitutionen får alla dessa tendenser sitt mest fullödiga uttryck.

I ett språk som vibrerar av patos och inlevelse med de förtryckta och plågade illustrerar Foucault sina teser med skakande inblickar i straffets och disciplineringens historia.

I en inledning till boken ger Sune Sunesson en klargörande presentation av Foucaults tänkande.

Michel Foucault är en central gestalt i den europeiska intellektuella diskussionen genom sina framställningar av vansinnets, fängelsets och sexualitetens historia. Hans första stora arbete var just Vansinnets historia (Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique). Det franska originalet publicerades 1961 och boken är nu tillgänglig i en sjätte svensk ombruten och översedd upplaga. Foucault vill visa hur uppfattningen om vansinne och vad som är "normalt" beteende har förändrats över tiden liksom samhällets sätt att hantera vansinnet i olika institutioner. Han sammanbinder dessa förändringar med de grundläggande civilisationsuppfattningar som format det europeiska tänkandet sedan medeltiden. Sune Sunesson ger i sin inledning en insiktsfull presentation av Foucaults arbeten och utveckling.

Den gängse filosofin hävdar att subjektet och förnuftet måste få härska -- i människans namn. Men blir den verkliga människan mindre mänsklig, om vi berövar den abstrakta människan hennes ställning som förklaringsfaktor till allting? Det är Foucaults fråga i detta klassiska arbete från 1969 som nu kommit i en andra ombruten upplaga på Arkiv förlag. "Jag förstår att de alla känner sig obehagliga till mods. De har förmodligen haft en viss svårighet att fatta att deras historia, deras nationalekonomi, deras sociala praktiker, det språk de talar, deras förfäders mytologi, de sagor de fick sig berättade då de var små, lyder under regler som inte alla är givna för deras medvetande. De önskar knappast att man dessutom skall ta ifrån dem den diskurs där de omedelbart, utan distans, vill kunna säga vad de tänker, tror eller inbillar sig." (Ur Vetandets arkeologi) I sitt personligt hållna förord lyfter Bengt Olle Bengtsson, genetiker vid Lunds universitet, fram Foucaults analys av hur "vetandet" formas i mötet mellan maktförhållanden, ideologier och vetenskaper.

'Foucault must be reckoned with by humanists, social scientists, and political activists' The New York Times Book ReviewSociety Must Be Defended is Michel Foucault's devastating critique of the systems of power and control inherent in civilization. Taken from a series of lectures given by Foucault at the Collége de France in 1975-76, it reveals how war is the foundation of all power relations, and politics ultimately a continuation of battlefield violence. He offers a politically charged re-reading of history, with examples ranging from the Trojan myth to Nazi Germany, to show a continual, 'silent war' between the powerful and the powerless.'A timely and prescient book, mainly because of what it says about the way in which war is necessary as a means of control' New StatesmanTranslated by David Macey

In France, a country that awards its intellectuals the status other countries give their rock stars, Michel Foucault was part of a glittering generation of thinkers, one which also included Sartre, de Beauvoir and Deleuze. One of the great intellectual heroes of the twentieth century, Foucault was a man whose passion and reason were at the service of nearly every progressive cause of his time. From law and order, to mental health, to power and knowledge, he spearheaded public awareness of the dynamics that hold us all in thrall to a few powerful ideologies and interests. Arguably his finest work, Archaeology of Knowledge is a challenging but fantastically rewarding introduction to his ideas.

In this remarkable book Michel Foucault, one of the most influential thinkers of recent times, calls us to look critically at specific historical events in order to uncover new layers of significance. In doing so, he challenges our assumptions not only about history, but also about the nature of language and reason, even of truth. The scope of such an undertaking is vast, but by means of his uniquely engaging narrative style, Foucault’s penetrating gaze is skilfully able to confront our own. After reading his words our perceptions are never quite the same again.

'A brilliant display of fireworks, attacking the widespread and banal notion that "in the beginning" sexual activity was guilt-free and delicious, being repressed and blighted only by the gloom of Victorianism' Spectator We talk about sex more and more, but are we more liberated? The first part of Michel Foucault's landmark account of our evolving attitudes in the west shows how the nineteenth century, far from suppressing sexuality, led to an explosion of discussion about sex as a separate sphere of life for study and examination. As a result, he argues, we are making a science of sex which is devoted to the analysis of desire rather than the increase of pleasure. 'A wealth of insights, original conceptualizations and provocative ideas' The Times Literary Supplement

'Who since Weber, or perhaps even Hobbes, has done as much to show why power is such a profound, elusive and treacherous presence throughout our experience?' The Times Higher EducationThe third and final volume of the Essential Works of Foucault series, Power brings together his writings on the issues that he helped make the core agenda of Western political culture: medicine, prisons, psychiatry, government and sexuality, in particular showing his concerns with human rights, discrimination and exclusion. It also includes articles and open letters published directly in response to the issues of the time, calling for reform in abortion, asylum and the death penalty. All the pieces here bring a new sense of Foucault's huge influence on the politics of personal freedom.Edited by James D. FaubionTranslated by Robert Hurley and Others

När Michel Foucault dog 1984, 57 år gammal, var han en av de mest betydelsefulla och kontroversiella personerna i den intellektuella världen. Med arbeten som Vansinnets historia, Vetandets arkeologi och Övervakning och straff hade han skaffat sig en självständig ställning och ett ansenligt inflytande. Han var lärd, orädd och politiskt aktivt. "Sexualitetens historia" (i tre band) kom att bli hans sista verk. Utgångspunkten för det första bandet, Viljan att veta, är varför vi så insisterande hävdar att vi är sexuellt förtryckta. Foucault analyserar de ideologiska faktorer som genomsyrat maktens tal om sexualiteten. En förutsättning i det talet är att det finns en sanning att uppdaga om sexualiteten i oss och att den kan framträda i bekännelsens form. Makten vill veta, och den lyckas inte sällan göra sin vilja till vår egen. Från att ha betraktat sexualiteten som syndfull talar människan nu skuldtyngd om att hon borde bli mer frigjord. Det är detta spel mellan makt och vetande som Foucault undersöker, och han hävdar att det inte resulterat i vad makten avsett – en kontrollerbar sexualitet. Sexualiseringen har funnit nya, mångfaldiga uttrycksvägar via den väv av njutning-makt som den monogamt heterosexuella familjens privilegierade ställning givit tillgång till.

I det andra bandet av Sexualitetens historia behandlar Foucault den grekiska senantiken. De källor han främst bygger på är Xenofon, Platon och Aristoteles och frågeställningarna gäller hur den grekiska filosofin betraktade sexuallivet som område för uppskattning och etiska ställningstaganden. Foucault klargör hur begreppet sexualitet, så som vi använder det, är ett sentida påfund, myntat först i början av 1800-talet, och han hävdar att det är svårt att finna ett likartat begrepp hos grekerna. Grekerna använde dock ett begrepp, afrodisia, om något man grovt skulle kunna säga omfattar »njutning i kärlek», och detta afrodisia blir en nyckelterm i Foucaults undersökning. Foucaults diskussion kring afrodisia blott-lägger hur begreppet konstitueras som en domän för moralisk omsorg. Genom själva begreppet afrodisia anser Foucault att man kan närma sig en förståelse av det som i det sexuella beteendet erkändes som »etisk substans».

When one defines "order" as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century. Eclipsed by his later work on power and discourse, nonetheless it was The Order of Things that established Foucault's reputation as an intellectual giant. Pirouetting around the outer edge of language, Foucault unsettles the surface of literary writing. In describing the limitations of our usual taxonomies, he opens the door onto a whole new system of thought, one ripe with what he calls "exotic charm". Intellectual pyrotechnics from the master of critical thinking, this book is crucial reading for those who wish to gain insight into that odd beast called Postmodernism, and a must for any fan of Foucault.

'No brief survey can do justice to the richness, complexity and detail of Foucault's discussion' New York Review of BooksThe second volume of Michel Foucault's pioneering analysis of the changing nature of desire explores how sexuality was perceived in classical Greek culture.From the stranger byways of Greek medicine (with its advice on the healthiest season for sex, as well as exercise and diet) to the role of women, The Use of Pleasure is full of extraordinary insights into the differences - and the continuities - between the Ancient, Christian and Modern worlds, showing how sex became a moral issue in the west. 'Required reading for those who cling to stereotyped ideas about our difference from the Greeks in terms of pagan license versus Christian austerity' Los Angeles Times Book Review

'Bristles with provocative insights into the tangled liaisons of sex and self' Times Higher EducationIn the third volume of his acclaimed examination of sexuality in modern Western society, Foucault investigates the Golden Age of Rome to reveal a decisive break from the classical Greek version of sexual pleasure. Exploring the moral reflections of philosophers and physicians of the era, he identifies a growing anxiety over sexual activity and its consequences. At the core of this transformation Foucault found the principles of the 'care of the self': the belief that the self is an object of knowledge to be cultivated over time, and the implications this has for ethics and behaviour.'Magnificent ... Foucault's great achievement is to illuminate an entire and cohesive body of thought. It is brilliantly done' Daily Telegraph

The final major work by one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth centuryIn the fourth and final volume of his far-reaching and influential study of human sexuality, Foucault turns his attention to early Christianity, exploring how ancient ideas of pleasure were modified into the notion of the 'flesh'. Ranging over marriage, procreation and the concept of virginity as a divine state, Foucault brilliantly shows how a fledgling religion altered and defined the Western history of desire. Confessions of the Flesh brings to a conclusion one of the twentieth century's seminal works.'A thinker of immense power ... posing questions that still perplex us' The Times Literary Supplement'Required reading ... The appearance of the fourth volume is the most significant event in the world of Foucault scholarship in 20 years ... Essential' Los Angeles Review of Books

Newly published lectures by Foucault on critique, Enlightenment, and the care of the self—now in paperback. On May 27, 1978, Michel Foucault gave a lecture to the French Society of Philosophy where he redefined his entire philosophical project in light of Immanuel Kant’s 1784 text “What Is Enlightenment?” Foucault strikingly characterizes critique as the political and moral attitude consisting in the “art of not being governed like this,” one that performs the function of destabilizing power relations and creating the space for a new formation of the self within the “politics of truth.”This volume presents the first critical edition of this crucial lecture alongside a previously unpublished lecture about the culture of the self and three public debates with Foucault at the University of California, Berkeley, in April 1983. There, for the first time, Foucault establishes a direct connection between his reflections on the Enlightenment and his analyses of Greco-Roman antiquity. However, far from suggesting a return to the ancient culture of the self, Foucault invites his audience to build a “new ethics” that bypasses the traditional references to religion, law, and science.

Detta nummer av Arche, 2012:38-39, utgör delvis en fortsättning på det tema kring Michel Foucaults doktorsavhandling Vansinnets historia under den klassiska epoken (1961) som inleddes i nummer 2011:34-35. Tonvikten ligger denna gång mer på Foucaults betydelse för diskussionen om psykiatrin än på verkets filosofiska och litterära implikationer. Andra teman som behandlas i numret är bland annat universitetet samt Hans Hedlunds arkitektur.

"Tanken utanfo?r" skrevs av Michel Foucault 1966 och handlar om fo?rfattaren Maurice Blanchot. Tjugo a?r senare och efter Foucaults do?d svarade Blanchot med "Michel Foucault som jag fo?resta?ller mig honom". I denna bok mo?ts dessa tva? texter, fo?rfattade av tva? av den franska efterkrigstidens mest inflyt­elserika ta?nkare.

"Death and the Labyrinth" is unique, being Foucault's only work on literature. For Foucault this was "by far the book I wrote most easily and with the greatest pleasure". Here, Foucault explores theory, criticism and psychology through the texts of Raymond Roussel, one of the fathers of experimental writing, whose work has been celebrated by the likes of Cocteau, Duchamp, Breton, Robbe Grillet, Gide and Giacometti. This revised edition includes: an introduction, chronology and bibliography to Foucault's work by James Faubion, an interview with Foucault, conducted only nine months before his death, and concludes with an essay on Roussel by the poet, John Ashbery.

In this classic account of madness, Michel Foucault shows once and for all why he is one of the most distinguished European philosophers since the end of World War II. Madness and Civilization,Foucault's first book and his finest accomplishment, will change the way in which you think about society. Evoking shock, pity and fascination, it might also make you question the way you think about yourself.