''Foucault'' is a book by

José Guilherme Merquior José Guilherme Merquior (April 22, 1941 – January 7, 1991) was a Brazilian diplomat, academic, writer, literary critic and philosopher. Biography He was a prolific writer, and member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras (the Brazilian Aca ...

about the French philosopher

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

, first published in 1985.

Overview

Merquior's assessment of Foucault's work is largely negative; he argues that Foucault's work is marked by factual errors and questionable arguments. Merquior acknowledges that Foucault "forced us to think anew on sundry past forms of knowledge" in relation to themes of madness, punishment and sexuality, but characterises him as a "doctrinaire historian who more often than not strives to compress the historical record in the Procust's icbed of ideological preinterpretations." Concluding, Merquior characterises Foucault as "a ''neo-

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

''".

Reception

In his foreword to

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

's ''

Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French historian of ideas and philosopher who was also an author, literary critic, political activist, and teacher. Foucault's theories primarily addressed the relationships be ...

'',

Paul Bové Paul A. Bové (born 1949 in Philadelphia) is distinguished professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and editor of the peer-reviewed academic journal of postmodern theory, literature, and culture ''Boundary 2,'' published by Duke Univer ...

described Merquior's book as "a particularly sad example of uncritical arrogance that embarasses everyone involved". John M. Ellis, however, identified the book as "the best general account of Foucault", while Alan Swingewood, reviewing the book in ''

The British Journal of Sociology ''The British Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1950 at the London School of Economics and Political Science. It represents the mainstream of sociological thinking and research and publishes high qua ...

'', described it as "an elegant and well-informed of Foucault's 'highly original' fusion of history and philosophy".

Camille Paglia Camille Anna Paglia ( ; born April 2, 1947) is an American academic, social critic and Feminism, feminist. Paglia was a professor at the University of the Arts (Philadelphia), University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1984 until ...

wrote that Merquior's study "hilariously exposes the elementary errors made by Foucault in every area he wrote about".

Notes

References

* * * * * 1985 non-fiction books Biographies about philosophers Books about Michel Foucault Books by José Guilherme Merquior Contemporary philosophical literature English-language non-fiction books English non-fiction books {{philo-bio-book-stub