Foucault's interpretive analytics of power 1,2

Abstract

In this paper an interpretation of Foucault's work on power is presented. One aim is to introduce this aspect of Foucault's work to the emerging debate on Critical Systems Thinking. Another goal is to clarify how Foucauldian discourse about power can be framed within the notion of “interpretive analytics” (a term that describes Foucault's work, conceived by Dreyfus and Rabinow). This metalogical thinking proposes that archaeological and genealogical dimensions are proper methods for the study of the History of Thought. The interpretive space of experience-in which knowledge, power, and self are the axes of experience-is presented as a comprehensive model of the critical task of the History of Thought. Foucault's work is analyzed according to this model. Two conceptions of power arise from this analysis: the first conception is a peripheral view of power which raises key questions that drive the second, microphysical conception of power. We then demonstrate how the latter absorbs the former. The microphysical conception is based on a nominalistic view, which raises issues about nominalism in Foucault's critical thinking. These are addressed at the end of the article.