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Continental Thoughts

Foucault’s Elephant

Thomas Morrison looks hard at Michel Foucault’s problem with science.

“… discourses themselves are neither true nor false”
(Power/Knowledge, p.118)

“The confession [is] the general standard governing the production of the true discourse on sex”
(History of Sexuality Vol. I, p.63)

Flamboyant French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984) is as well known for his historical analyses of criminality, sexuality, and madness as he is for his enigmatic statements on the nature of power, knowledge, and truth. In this article I want to examine the latter, especially in relation to scientific knowledge.

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