Madness and civilization

About the Author(s)

Michel Foucault is one of the most influential, and controversial, thinkers of the twentieth century. His engagement with topics such as truth, power and language continues to exert significant influence on a huge range of disciplines, from philosophy, sociology and anthropology to history, politics, law, literature, religion and many others.

Born in Poitiers, France in October 1926, Foucault studied philosophy at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris, securing degrees in both philosophy and psychology. He lectured there in philosophy and worked as a psychologist at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne in the early 1950s. His thesis, Folie et Deraison: Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique , was published in 1961 and subsequently published in English as History of Madness by Routledge. It was hailed as "magnificent" by the renowned historian Fernand Braudel and announced the arrival of a major new voice in philosophy. Several other now-famous works followed, including The Birth of the Clinic, The Order of Things and The Archaeology of Knowledge (all published by Routledge).

Foucault was also a renowned activist, campaigning tirelessly on behalf of homosexuals and for prison reform. He travelled to North America in the 1970s and 1980s to live what he termed "limit experiences" and write the three volumes of his History of Sexuality. Fatally ill with AIDS, Foucault died in Paris on 25 June 1984, at the age of fifty-seven.

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