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Michel Foucault
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The History of Sexuality: 1: The Will to Knowledge Paperback – 29 October 1998

by Michel Foucault (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 138
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Why has there been such an explosion of discussion about sex in the west since the 17th century? Here, one of France's greatest intellectuals explores the evolving social, economic and political forces that have shaped our attitudes to sex. In a book that is at once controversial and seductive, Foucault describes how we are in the process of making a science of sex which is devoted to the analysis of desire rather than the increase of pleasure.
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  1. Print length
    176 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Press
  4. Publication date
    29 October 1998
  5. Dimensions
    12.9 x 1 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0140268685
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0140268683
  8. See all details
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About the Author

One of the leading intellectuals of the twentieth century and the most prominent thinker in post-war France, Foucault's work influenced disciplines as diverse as history, sociology, philosophy, sociology and literary criticism.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press; 1st edition (29 October 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140268685
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140268683
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 1 x 19.8 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 138

About the author

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Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault

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One of the leading intellectuals of the twentieth century and the most prominent thinker in post-war France, Foucault's work influenced disciplines as diverse as history, sociology, philosophy, sociology and literary criticism.

Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was a French historian and philosopher associated with the structuralist and poststructuralist movements. He is often considered the most influential social theorist of the second half of the twentieth century, not only in philosophy but in a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Among his most notable books are Madness and Civilization, Discipline and Punish, and The History of Sexuality.

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
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cocopinn
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrived Quickly
Reviewed in the United States on 10 April 2022
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book is in great condition
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Zarathustra - The Godless
5.0 out of 5 stars Power.
Reviewed in India on 18 October 2018
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A month and copious amounts of notes and simplified paragraphical understandings haven't yet yeilded what Foucault talks in its entirety.
It is less a historical account of sex than it is of Power and the 'deployment of sexuality'- a product of the latter- to clamp down, institutionalise, circumvent and regulate the workings of sex. Sex is less thought to be repressed, in the the Victorian and modern moral standards, than regulated. The regulation was brought about by Power acting through Law in the 18th century Europe and is incisively linked with the rise of Capitalism. And how the latter deployed sexuality to regulate sex.

You're in for a rollercoaster, mind-retch ride.
4 people found this helpful
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T Jarvis
5.0 out of 5 stars Foucault's zenith
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2015
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What else is there to say about this trailblazing work that has not already been said? An immensely theoretically complex work crammed into relatively few pages, Foucault moves on from his thesis in 'Discipline and Punish', wherein he introduced the notion of disciplinary power. In 'HoS Vol 1', Foucault further develops the concept of biopower, constituted by two poles - discipline, directed at the individual body, and biopolitics, directed at the population. He further develops the concepts introduced in 'Abnormal' and 'Society Must Be Defended', and the final chapter (The Right to Death and the Power Over Life) is particularly mind-blowing. He argues that although biopower seeks to invest in life and incite to live, wars have never been more murderous and bloody than in the contemporary era of biopower. The paradoxical situation is brought about as although wars were previously conducted in the name of the sovereign, contemporary wars are conducted in the name of genetic hygiene, in the name of race - and that the elimination of the 'Other' is thought to make the Self stronger. In other words, wars have become genocidal.

A fantastic work that must be read for anyone seriously confronting the topic of power.
9 people found this helpful
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sudipta chakraborty
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in India on 18 May 2021
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Good
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read and great condition.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2017
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Bought as recommended by my course leader. The book was in great condition and much cheaper then most of the other books on my reading list. Pleased would be an understatement.
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