Michel Foucault 1926 – 1984

Michel Foucault was a 20th-century French philosopher, historian, and social theorist, one of the most influential figures of post-war continental philosophy. His major works, including Madness and Civilisation, The Order of Things, Discipline and Punish, and the multi-volume History of Sexuality, traced the historical conditions under which categories such as madness, illness, criminality, and sexuality came to take their modern forms. He developed the concepts of episteme, discourse, biopower, and governmentality to analyse how knowledge and power are intertwined in modern institutions and practices. He held a chair at the College de France from 1970 until his death and was for the last decade of his life one of the most public intellectuals in France. His work has been formative for post-structuralism, queer theory, postcolonial studies, and contemporary political philosophy.