Analitiese konsepte in middel-Foucault

Abstract

Analytic concepts in middle Foucault. This article investigates prominent analytic concepts in the philosophical historiographies of Michel Foucault (1926–1984), with specific regards to the work done in the middle phase of his career. These concepts accentuate the relation between history, power and contingency within the context of social inquiry. The author qualifies a particular order in the isolation of these concepts from the middle part of Foucault’s oeuvre: the notion of present history is introduced as the central concept in Foucault’s analyses from this period. It is argued that the notion of present history sustains Foucault’s other unique historiographical and socio-diagnostic tools from the particular period, namely archaeology, genealogy, discourse and power analysis. The article contributes to Foucaultian scholarship by periodising these concepts within the larger oeuvre, without subordinating Foucault to the parameters of his own ‘method’.