Foucault and Feminism

Abstract

Foucault's approach challenges many of the frameworks and concepts of both liberal and communitarian political thought. By documenting the links between power and knowledge at a variety of levels, he makes us suspect theories that pinpoint a single source of oppressions and problems. He also calls into question the familiar belief that truth and power are opposed, a belief that leads to a particular sort of liberatory action that may in fact be a simple denial of the fact of power in our lives. I shall argue that this has strong implications for the evaluation and development of feminist theory and other political theory. Foucault's work has been challenged on the ground of incoherence and nihilism. This challenge has been made by both feminists and nonfeminists. The later sections of the paper address these charges and argue that he is neither incoherent nor nihilistic but is searching for a new ground for political theory that will overcome many of the defects of modem theory. In this, he is an ally of feminists who seek to demonstrate and challenge the false inclusion and equality of humanist discourse.