著者

中川 久嗣

出版者

東海大学

雑誌

東海大学紀要. 文学部 (ISSN:05636760)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.84, pp.228-214, 2006-03-30

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Michel Foucault strongly practiced his power criticism throughout his life and his power criticism was based on the basic concept of "Power/Knowledge" which focused on the strong and inevitable relations between power and knowledge in the diverse field of human sciences of Western civilization. However, late in life, he declared that the general theme of his research had not been power but the subject. What does this declaration mean? Did he abandon his power criticism by turning to the new ethics of the self? In this study, especially analyzing his later works, I investigated the substance of this change to reveal that Foucault never abandoned his principle of power criticism. I also took up the earlier works which treated the individual as the passive subject, and I verified that Foucault analyzed such a subject as an executor of the Will to Knowledge, and as a important component of power. So, his analysis of the subject has not been different from power criticism. Foucault's analysis of the subject fundamentally supported his critical theory of power and was consistent throughout his life.