Michel Foucault

"From 1971 until his death in 1984, Foucault taught at the College de France, one of the most unique and renowned institutions of higher learning in the world. The College enrolls no students and confers no degrees. Professors are required to deliver lectures to the general public on topics from their ongoing original research. During his tenure at the College, Foucault's teaching, which reached audiences that frequently numbered in the thousands, profoundly influenced a generation of scholars." "These lectures, reconstructed from tape recordings and Foucault's own notes, are now being made available in English for the first time. Under the guidance of series editor Arnold I. Davidson, Picador will publish all thirteen volumes of the lectures in North America." "In "Society Must Be Defended," the inaugural volume in the series, translated by David Macey, Foucault traces the genealogy of the problem of war in society from the seventeenth century to the present. Inverting Clausewitz's famous formulation - "War is politics by other means," Foucault explores the notion that "politics is war by other means" in its relation to race, class struggle, and, of course, power. Providing us with a new model of political rationality, he overturns many of our long-held ideas of sovereignty, the law, and even truth itself. The full significance of the dictum "Society must be defended" becomes clear when Foucault's examination culminates in an extraordinary discussion of modern forms of racism."--Jacket.

English version of "Surveiller et punir : naissance de la prison"

The late Michael Foucault left behind an impressive collection of interviews that demonstrate the breadth and diversity of his concerns and offer a unique opportunity to come to terms with the entire body of his work.

What does it mean to write "This is not a pipe" across a bluntly literal painting of a pipe? René Magritte's famous canvas provides the starting point for a delightful homage by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault. Much better known for his incisive and mordant explorations of power and social exclusion, Foucault here assumes a more playful stance. By exploring the nuances and ambiguities of Magritte's visual critique of language, he finds the painter less removed than previously thought from the pioneers of modern abstraction.

The purpose of The Archaeology of Knowledge is to suggest how rhetoric can be studied and understood in its relationship with power and knowledge.

Analyzes the specifics of mental illness and the forms attributed to it by psychology and determines the social conditions that define the status of mental illness.