If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost.
Meaning of the quote
The quote suggests that power, knowledge, and sexuality have been closely connected for a long time. It suggests that we may have to make sacrifices if we want to break free from this connection. In other words, it won't be easy to change the way these things are linked.
About Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian, and activist who made significant contributions to various academic fields. His theories explored the relationships between power, knowledge, and liberty, and how they are used as a form of social control. Foucault’s influential work has shaped research in diverse areas, from anthropology to feminism, and his efforts against homophobia and racial prejudice have also been impactful.
More quotes from Michel Foucault
If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost.
ck k3 c ercrv
Prison continues, on those who are entrusted to it, a work begun elsewhere, which the whole of society pursues on each individual through innumerable mechanisms of discipline.
ck k3 c ercrv
As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.
ck k3 c ercrv
As the archeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.
ck k3 c ercrv
Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art.
ck k3 c ercrv
In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating.
ck k3 c ercrv
What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life.
ck k3 c ercrv
Power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society.
ck k3 c ercrv
Freedom of conscience entails more dangers than authority and despotism.
ck k3 c ercrv
Justice must always question itself, just as society can exist only by means of the work it does on itself and on its institutions.
ck k3 c ercrv
The strategic adversary is fascism… the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.
ck k3 c ercrv