The Order of Discourse

1. The Order of Discourse Michel Foucault (1926-1984) • critical theorist • research: historical analyses of social conditions • orientation: anti-essentialism “What appeals to many people in Foucault’s work is this almost Zen-like pushing to the limits of what it is possible to say, challenging each element and concept within our theoretical frameworks which we use in order to think.” (Mills 2003: 5) “I would like my books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area… I don't write for an audience, I write for users, not readers.” (Foucault 1974) Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (1961/1967) • attitudes to madness conditioned the construction of reason • today Western societies divide sanity from insanity The Archeology of Knowledge (1969/1972) • history does not proceed along continuous lines of development • discourse determines the reality we perceive The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences (1966/1973) • all periods of history possess specific underlying conditions of truth • analysis of shared presuppositions and theoretical frameworks which organise thought