Michel Foucault - History of systems of thought

Presentation

The Chair in the History of Systems of Thought was created in November 1969 at the suggestion of Jules Vuillemin, Professor at the Collège de France from 1962 to 1990. Michel Foucault had become close to him a few years earlier, when he agreed to teach psychology in the philosophy department of the University of Clermont-Ferrand, of which Vuillemin was then director. In proposing the creation of this new chair, Jules Vuillemin was relaying the wishes of Jean Hyppolite, who had died the previous year without being able to present Foucault, to whom he was close, at the Collège de France.

In 1969, Michel Foucault was a philosopher crowned by the popular success of his last books, Les Mots et les Choses and L'Archéologie du savoir, who had just taken over as head of the philosophy department at the young Centre universitaire expérimental in Vincennes. Following the tradition of the Collège de France, he sent a brochure to all professors, setting out his titles and works, outlining his forthcoming lectures and justifying the title of the chair. Subsequently, Jules Vuillemin presented two reports to the Collège de France faculty assembly in support of the creation of the Michel Foucault Chair. The first report, based on one drawn up by Jean Hyppolite, was presented to the assembly onNovember 30 1969. Its aim was to defend the creation of the Chair through " the novelty and the enterprise it would institute ", by situating it in " the tradition of philosophy, in general and, more particularly at the Collège de France ". He placed the new chair in the continuity of " the non-Cartesian tradition " developed by Henri Bergson, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Hyppolite, without mentioning the candidate. The vote took place the same day, and the chair was created by a majority of twenty-five votes out of forty-six. A new ballot was held at the teachers' meeting onApril12 1970 to appoint the new chairholder. Jules Vuillemin presented a new report, giving pride of place to Foucault by name, and going on at length about his work, which suggested " that the history of thought could be inflected towards the study of systems which, rather than sciences or rhapsodies of opinions, form knowledge and which are invested in institutions, techniques and behaviours ". After the thirty-nine ballots were counted, twenty-four were in favor. Michel Foucault is elected to the Collège de France.

OnDecember2 1970, Michel Foucault delivers his opening lecture, published two months later under the title L'Ordre du discours. In it, the philosopher explores the relationship between power, knowledge and discourse, highlighting the mechanisms by which discourse is controlled, selected, organized and disseminated in society. He describes discourse as both a means of power and a space of resistance, regulated by rules and institutions that determine what can be said, by whom, and how. He then drew up a program of research and lectures in which he proposed a method that was both critical and genealogical. These fourteen years spent at the Collège de France will bear witness to Foucault's commitments as much as to the evolution of his research. Every week, first on Wednesday afternoons, then in the mornings from 1976 onwards, Foucault gave the lectures that led to the publication ofSurveiller et punir in 1975 and La Volonté de savoir a year later. The year 1980 saw Foucault's lectures, which had hitherto consisted mainly of analyses and case studies of the modern period, and were indirectly in touch with current political issues such as penal theories, psychiatric power and economic liberalism, shift to meticulous readings and commentaries on ancient authors. These were the years of study of " techniques de soi ", which accompanied the last two volumes ofHistoire de la sexualité published shortly before his death, and culminated in the lessons on the courage of truth, a kind of intellectual testament.

Michel Foucault held the History of Systems of Thought chair until his death in 1984. His lectures at the Collège de France, recorded by numerous members of the public, will be the subject of a complete edition from 1997 to 2015, and continue to inspire numerous works.

Notice written by Aurèle Méthivier (Collège de France).