Michel Foucault Quotes

“But, then, what is philosophy today—philosophical activity, I mean—if it is not the critical work that thought brings to bear on itself? In what does it consist, if not in the endeavor to know how and to what extent it might be possible to think differently, instead of legitimating what is already known? There is always something ludicrous in philosophical discourse when it tries, from the outside, to dictate to others, to tell them where their truth is and how to find it, or when it works up a case against them in the language of naive positivity.”
― Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure

“Given Loughner's obsession with meaninglessness and language, maybe Foucault & Derrida deserve some fault here, too.”
― Walter Kirn

“The institution of monarchy developed during the Middle Ages against the backdrop of the previously endemic struggles between feudal power agencies. The monarchy presented itself as a referee, aa power capable of putting an end to war, violence, and pillage and saying no to these struggles and private feuds. It made itself acceptable by allocating itself a juridical and negative function, albeit one whose limits it naturally began at once to overstep.”
― Michel Foucault

“Q: Doesn't this open up the possibility of overcoming the dualism of political struggles that eternally feed on the opposition between the state, on the one hand, and revolution, on the other? Doesn't it indicate a wider field of conflicts than that where the adversary is the state?

Foucault: I would say that the state consists in the codification of a whole number of power relations that render its functioning possible, and that revolution is a different type of codification of the same relations.”
― Michel Foucault

“What is that fear which makes you seek, beyond all boundaries, ruptures, shifts, and divisions, the great historico-transcendental destiny of the Occident?”
― Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language

“Michel Foucault notait ainsi, à propos du regard clinique, sa "paradoxale propriété d'entendre un langage au moment où il perçoit un specatcle".”
― Aleberto Castoldi

“„Vidiš, prihvatiš li bol – uživala u njemu ili ne – podstičeš kontrolu nad telom. Budi se potreba da bolom, pa i samom sobom, u svakom smislu ovladaš.”
„Mišel Fuko bi to verovatno nazvao vidom samodiscipline”, rekao sam, „jer je pokoreni u isto vreme i onaj koji disciplinuje i onaj koji se disciplinuje – pa i posredno, putem pristanka da bude disciplinovan.”
„Zar nije zanimljivo to što nam, za ma kakav značajan preobražaj, treba nekakav pokretač?”, rekla je Valerija.
„Pokretanje nekog procesa je neminovno za promenu... Međutim, to i nema nekog smisla kad se shvati da je čitav život neprekidan proces promene.”
„Da, ali čovek to i ne doživljava baš tako”, rekla je Irina. „Zato mu je potrebna zamisao o tom – pokretaču.”
― Boban Trifunović, Carstvo Tvoje