A Study On Foucault's Philosophy Of Power

The most important problem that Foucault concerns with in his whole life is the problem of power, especially in his last 15 years of his life. The way in which Foucault ponder and study "power" as well as the statements of it is particular, which shakes the traditional concepts and theories of power in politics. Contrary to the old saying that power is something to prevent somebody from doing something or forbid somebody to do something, Foucault considered the power a network. He was to think about the founction and how the power operates in the society. He was to analyse the tactics, network, and mechanism of power, and was looking for the way on which power can operate and the way to enforce the operation. According to Foucault, power exists in anywhere and anytime. It is not a substantiality; therefore it has neither subjects nor objects. It is a network with unlimited movements of kinds of things and forces. The particular views and the special presentations which are advanced by Foucault have been changing people's opinions in power, which will also continue in the future. Whatever the limits that Foucault's philosophy of power has, anyone who discusses the problem of power can not avoid Foucault after him.This dissertation is divided into six parts:Part â… : Introductions.Part â…¡: The origin of Foucault's philosophy of power. There are three origins of Foucault's philosophy of power: the modernism thoughts, Nietzsche as well as his philosophy and the postmodernism thoughts. Although the thoughts of Foucault's philosophy are base on and developed by negating and criticizing modernisms, it contains some certain factors of it. In fact, Foucault's philosophy of power not only learns the reasonable cores of modernism thoughts, but also oversteps it. Nietzsche and his philosophy are also the important origin of Foucault's philosophy of power.