Freud Foucault And Society Essay Research Paper

Freud Foucault And Society Essay, Research Paper

Aristotle once stated in Metaphysics that, “All men by nature desire Knowledge.” If one accepts the claim that knowledge is power, then it will be logical to assert that all people want power. The person or persons that have knowledge also acquire the power of that knowledge. In Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish he clearly shows the power-knowledge relationship that is prevalent in society both on the large and small scale, and how these affect society as a whole. Whereas, Sigmund Freud who has mastered the discipline of psychotherapy, which he uses to help others without this knowledge clearly demonstrates the power of knowledge. In Sigmund Freud’s Studies on Hysteria there are studies which show this use of power-knowledge to unlock problems in their mind creating the hysteria for which they suffer. These two authors use their power of knowledge in much the same way by bringing to light the problems that confront the individual. However, they both would have a different point of view on the use of this power.

In Discipline and Punish, Foucault looks to shock the reader and get the attention of the reader immediately with his depiction of torture and death at the outset. This has a compelling effect, and different uses of power. The first one being evident, that is the physical power. The other form of power is not so evident. It is the effect of this power on the mind of the individual. The punishment and extraction of information has gone from being a very physical and public ritual and evolving later to a private ceremony hidden behind walls, and consisting of mental torture. The individual wants to feel that punishment is carried out in some moral way. However, this way is not moral but simply a veil from society’s view. This way one can pretend it is not going on.

This book is intended as a correlative history of the modern soul and of a new power to judge; genealogy of the present scientifico-legal complex from which the power to punish derives its bases, justification and rules, from which it extends its effects and by which it masks its exorbitant singularity (Foucault P.23).

Even though the intended use of this power is to punish, it filters itself into everyday life and these turn out to be the rule which society is to live by.

Power in society according to Foucault is power to make people do things, not repress them. The first evidence of this power is within the family. The parents in a family have the power over their children. This is due to two reasons. The first is because they are physically more powerful. The second reason is because they have more knowledge. As an individual grows he/she gains more knowledge, through experience, which increases their power within the society. However, they still have very little of the power to get others to do what they want. The individual then goes to school where again they are confronted with the power-knowledge relationship. In this case the teacher/professor has the power, the student really is at their mercy. The student does what the teacher/professor says because the student knows that in order to advance in society they will have to continue to gain the knowledge to achieve the power. The teacher/professor is the key to that power. The way the individual is subjected to this power only changes when they have mastered a discipline.

We should admit rather that power produces knowledge (and not simply by encouraging it because it serves power or by applying it because it is useful); that power and knowledge directly imply one another; that there is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations (Foucault P.27).

Are we making ourselves better off in society through the power of knowledge. There are some points we should take a look at: First, is enlightenment of power-knowledge a source of freedom or simply further incarceration. Education has been trying to teach the individual in hopes that he/she will help to better society through improved knowledge, but what one finds out is simply they are falling deeper into this trap of power-knowledge. Is the individual becoming more or less humane through becoming educated. It becomes clearly evident that as a society, we simply just put what we do not want to see behind physical or mental barriers, but that is not making us more humane. We are still imprisoned by these barriers. Second, has there truly been progress in forms of punishment throughout history. Society’s way of punishing the individual throughout history has definitely changed. Punishment has gone from horse quartering to life imprisonment, but can we say that one is better than the other is. Also, are human rights universal throughout society, or are they simply changing according to the rules which society sets for itself. Third, are we creatures of conformity. Society sets the standards to which we are constructed; the way we talk, how we act, etc…. This is what society calls “the norm,” that is how the people making up the society should behave. This led to the development of social statistics that constitutes the average. Therefore, what was once a decision about right and wrong, is now viewed as measurement of the amount of deviation from the norm. A perfect example lies withi