Foucault's philosophical contributions and intellectual legacy

Non-Existence of Power in an Individualist Society: "Power" by Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault was a well-known and -acclaimed contemporary French philosopher of the twentieth century, whose infamous works include philosophical discourses on the nature of knowledge in human society and primarily, on individualism. Indeed, Foucault is most often associated with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, deriving his philosophy and arguments from Nietzsche's works on the concept of the Superman in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."

Foucault, in effect, is a proponent of Nietzsche's existentialist philosophy, which puts emphasis on moral individualism and freedom of choice. His subsistence to this philosophy was influenced by the modern society he found himself in the 20th century. In the midst of a modern society which has remained dominantly collectivist and society-oriented, Foucault called for a re-evaluation of human society's structures and norms.

An analysis of these social structures and norms would show how collectivism, or at least suppression of individualism, results to a stagnation in social development, which is the ultimate objective of modernism in the said period. Thus, his works are characterized to be centered on the issue of how humanity can attain social development once it learns to subsist to the philosophy that supports individualism: existentialism.

It is not surprising, then, that Foucault put into the context of the concept of power his thoughts on individualism. In "Power," he proposed how subsistence to individualism will potentially eradicate the existence of power in society. His basis for arguing this point can be traced in humanity's tendency to acquire knowledge, which, according to Foucault, has been stagnating after society achieved its modernization.

The creation and development of new knowledge is an important indicator that society is progressing towards social development. However, Foucault observed how society ceased to produce 'new knowledge' as it moved towards 20th century. The emergence of "-isms" are based on extant philosophies and knowledge; therefore, they are just products of these knowledge, rendering them not original, new, and influential to induce to social development.