Michel Foucault on Regenerative Relatedness of Power/Knowledge and Truth
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Michel Foucault on Regenerative Relatedness of Power/ Knowledge and Truth Jagadish Basumatary1 Received: 5 May 2019 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 © ICPR 2020
Abstract Michel Foucault (1926–1984) suggests that there is an implicit conjunction between knowledge, power and truth. Even if knowledge and power are two different phenomena, each regulates the production of the other. Thus, it follows that knowledge does not exist prior to power as a determining factor for its being and nor even does it control while it comes to exist; on the contrary, knowledge and power are intimately and productively related to each other, the relationship that ultimately determines the production of truth. Just as power and knowledge are closely knit ensuring the existence of each other, so also truth that always exists together with power and knowledge. In ‘Truth and Power,’ Michel Foucault counters the major theoretical trends like Marxism and traces the instances of truth and power as they intertwine in the exercise of power relations. Truth and power sustain and produce each other which uncompromisingly affirm Foucault’s claim of power, knowledge and truth being intrinsically connected. Keywords Michel Foucault · Power · Knowledge · Truth
Introduction Michel Foucault (1926–1984) claims in his analysis of power that there is an implicit conjunction between knowledge, power and truth. It may be the case that knowledge and power are two different phenomena but everyday experiences show that each regulates the production of the other. Hence, the consequent is that knowledge does not exist prior to power as a determining factor for its being and nor even does it control while it comes to exist; on the contrary, knowledge and power are intimately and productively related to each other, the relationship that ultimately determines the production of truth.
* Jagadish Basumatary [email protected] 1
Department of Philosophy, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research
Just as power and knowledge are closely knit ensuring the existence of each other, it is truth that always accompanies power. In ‘Truth and Power,’ Michel Foucault counters the major theoretical trends like Marxism and traces the instances of truth and power as they intertwine in the exercise of power relations. Truth and power sustain and produce each other. Foucault states: ‘Truth’ is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it (Foucault 1980).1
Power is Productive While venturing into the instances of interconnectedness of power, knowledge and truth, it is good to proceed with an understanding of what Foucault thinks about power so that it becomes easier to understand the potency of power to produce knowledge and truth, the type of knowledge it produces and how it is produced in return. Therefore, at the very outset, a question can be asked: what is power? Foucault
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