Week 6: Foucault

Question 1

What does Foucault think about identity?

Answer 1

He thinks that you can’t form an identity without society. Even if we think we’re defining ourselves, we are still using categories and values given to us by society.

So, the only alternative to a socially defined identity is having no identity at all.

Question 2

Internalist vs. externalist history of science. And what is Foucault in this case?

Answer 2

Internalist history: focuses only on scientific ideas and discoveries themselves (what scientists did, said, and discovered).

Externalist history: looks at how social, political, and cultural forces shape science.

Foucault is an externalist: he wants to know how broader power structures influence what counts as “knowledge.”

Question 3

Foucault on archeology

Answer 3

Not about digging up artifacts, but about analysing the rules that control what can be said and thought in a specific historical period.

It studies how scientific and intellectual discourse is structured over time.

Question 4

Episteme

Answer 4

An episteme is a deep system of rules that governs what can be considered “serious knowledge” in a particular era. It shapes how people think, talk, and reason without them even being fully aware of it.

Epistemes differ across time periods.

Question 5

Foucault’s three epistemes in European history

Answer 5

1. Renaissance: knowledge means finding symbolic connections everywhere (analogies, resemblances).
2. Classical Age (17-18th century): knowledge means classification of things in a neat system. Scientists break things down into parts and give each part a label. Think: dictionaries, taxonomies, encyclopaedias.
3. Modern period: knowledge means understanding things in terms of history and development over time. Example: evolution, economic systems, or psychological development.

Question 6

What is a weakness in Foucault’s archeology?

Answer 6

He doesn’t explain how or why epistemes change. He also doesn’t explain what impact these changes have on broader society.

Question 7

The difference between a paradigm and episteme

Answer 7

1. Paradigm is conscious, episteme unconscious.
2. Paradigm is specific to a single science (linguistics, another in art history). An episteme exists in all sciences.
3. Paradigms don’t have to be long-lived, so they are shorter. Epistemes change very rarely.

Question 8

Foucault’s genealogy

Answer 8

He believes that our current values have been adopted not because they fit best with our ideals, but to fit the necessities of modern power.

Question 9

Foucault’s two kinds of power:

Answer 9

1. Repressive power (traditional):
   Someone else forces you to do their bidding. Our lives are shaped by this power. Forces us to do what we don’t want to do. Focused on/in specific institutions: bosses, judges, police, politicians.
2. Normalising power:
   Makes us want to do what we have to do anyway. Turns us into people who automatically by their own will do what society wishes. People who can’t imagine stealing because education taught that it was wrong. We don’t have to be jailed because we won’t steal anyway. It is everywhere: family, school, hospital, commercial TV break. Science.

Question 10

Foucault on power

Answer 10

Power is not wielded by a few individuals over the many, but instead everyone is subjected to power. So, it is internalised.

Science cannot be separated from power.

Question 11

Traditional view of power

Answer 11

Power is something external, forcing people to act a certain way.

Question 12

Tools of modern power

Answer 12

1. Observation: like the Panopticon prison, where people act properly because they might be watched. We behave even when no one’s watching, because we’ve internalised the watcher.
2. Normalising judgement: society defines what is “normal” and punishes or excuses the “abnormal”.
3. Examination: tests and assessments (like school exams) measure us, compare us to standards, and rank us.