Foucault Michel among his contemporaries is considered the most original and progressive philosopher in France. The main direction of his work is a study of the origin of man in a historical context, the attitude of society to the mentally ill and the very concept of mental illness.
Childhood. Adolescence
Michel Foucault was born on October 15, 1926 in the south of the country in a small provincial town. His family belonged to the dynasty of surgeons: his father and both grandfathers owned this profession. They expected the eldest grandson and son to continue their work and go on a medical path, but despite the pressure, the boy defended his right to self-realization and partially switched from medicine to metaphysics. Another exception to the rule was the duality of his name. There was a tradition in his family - to give all the first-born children the name Paul, but the mother named her son Paul Michel, and the child preferred when he was called by his middle name. Therefore, in all official documents he appears as Paul, but the public is known as Michel Foucault. His biography is also quite controversial.
The future sociologist, historian and philosopher studied at the best high school in France, but could not find contact with his fellow students. He received secondary education during the years of the fascist blockade of Europe, and this significantly influenced him as a person, changed the angle of his vision. Everything that happened at a time when politics determined the destinies of people cannot be perceived on the basis of today's moral and ethical foundations of society. People thought differently, their life changed quickly and not for the better, therefore there were supporters of radical measures.
Youth
After entering the university in 1946, a new life begins for the twenty-year-old Michel. And she was much worse than before. All students were terribly pressured by responsibility regarding their future, because the graduates of the Higher School were such outstanding people as Kangiyem or Sartre, who managed to write their name in gold letters in history. To repeat their path or to surpass, it was necessary to be very different from others.
In this regard, Foucault Michel achieved the palm. He knew how to work amazingly long and hard, study, and develop skills. In addition, his comprehensive education, stabbing irony and sarcasm did not leave indifferent fellow practitioners suffering from his bullying. As a result, classmates began to avoid him, they considered him crazy. This tense situation led to the fact that Michel Foucault tried to take his own life two years after admission. This event first brought him to St. Anne's Psychiatric Hospital. All the same, his actions had positive aspects, because the rector allocated a separate room for the unstable student.
Mentors
The first, thanks to whom the philosopher Michel Foucault was able to take place in the future, was Jacques Lacan Gusdorf. It was he who organized lectures on psychiatry for his students, took them to St. Anne's Hospital for practical classes. The next was Louis Al-Tusser, continuing the tradition of his predecessor regarding student training. Foucault Michelle, despite his reputation, was able to make friends with him for many years.
Specialist
In 1948, the Sorbonne gives the writer a degree in philosophy. A year later, the Paris Institute of Psychology gives him his diploma, and four years later Foucault Michel graduates from the same educational institution, but the specialty is already psychopathology. A lot of time from the philosopher takes work in the hospital of St. Anne. He leaves for medical examinations in prison, at the house of the sick, examines their life and painful condition. Thanks to this attitude towards patients, serious intellectual work, modern Michel Foucault crystallized. The biography briefly describes this period of his life, because he himself is not disposed to spread about him. The hospital was one of many operating then in France. She had no significant advantages or disadvantages and made a rather depressing impression, if you look at her through the eyes of a modern doctor.
Teaching
For five years, from 1951 to 1955, Foucault Michelle teaches at the Higher Normal School and, imitating his mentors, also takes students to St. Anne's Hospital for excursions and lectures. This was not the most eventful period in the life of the philosopher. At the same time, he began work on his book The History of Madness, drawing inspiration from Marxism and existentialism, the popular philosophical movements of the time. Wanting to repeat the triumph of Sartre and being a graduate of the same educational institution, the ambitious scientist sought any opportunity to improve his creation. He even had to learn German to read the works of Heidegger, Husserl and Nietzsche.
From Nietzsche and Hegel to Foucault
Years later, when his attitude to Marxism and existentialism changed, respect for Nietzsche’s work remained for life. Its influence is visible in the later works of Foucault. It was this German philosopher who prompted him to the idea of genealogy, that is, the study of the history of the origin of concepts, things, ideas.
Michel Foucault owes another facet of creativity to Hegel. More precisely, to his teacher Hippolytus, who was an ardent supporter of Hegelianism. This inspired the future philosopher so much that even the thesis was devoted to the analysis of Hegel's works.
Marxism
Michel Foucault, whose biography and philosophy were closely intertwined with the political movements of Europe at that time, joined the Communist Party in 1950. But disappointment in these ideas came quickly, and after three years he left the “red” ranks. For his short stay in the party, Foucault manages to rally the students of the Higher Normal School around him and organize a kind of interest circle. The courtyard of the institute turned into a discussion club, the leader of which, of course, was Michel. Such a craving for change, the corresponding mood among young people can be explained by the fact that their childhood and adolescence passed during the Second World War, and youth - in the process of redivision of spheres of influence between the USSR and Western Europe. They saw both heroic and frankly mean acts, and each of them represented himself as a participant in the Resistance, in a romantic halo. Membership in the Communist Party gave them the opportunity to come closer to their dreams.
Features of work in the party, a critical view of the surrounding reality, a sharp rejection of the ideals of the bourgeoisie were reflected in the work of Foucault. But, as always, from a slightly different angle than expected from him. Most of all he was interested in power relations. But not obvious examples, but those that are covertly present in society: parent-child, teacher-student, doctor-patient, convicted overseer. In more detail, the philosopher comprehended and described the relationship between a psychiatrist and a mentally ill person.
Wanderings
Life in France was opposed by Michel Foucault, and he hastily packed his bags and left to travel. His first stop was Sweden, then Poland and Austria-Hungary. During this period, active work is underway on the “History of Madness”. This period of his life is characterized by a certain dromomania, as Michel Foucault himself noted (Biography). Photos of the sights of different countries and even continents open to us a new, lost philosopher. He lectured in Brazil, Japan, Canada, USA, Tunisia.
A family
On the slope of his life, this talented man finally found a place where he could be truly happy. A long search was due to the difficulty of understanding and accepting by European society of how Michel Foucault lived and worked. His personal life was always a secret, since homosexuality in communist-minded countries was not openly welcomed. But in California, USA, things were not so bad. There was a separate subculture of people with a non-traditional orientation, they fought for their rights, published newspapers and magazines. Perhaps this is precisely the way of life that influenced Foucault's quick departure from life. In the fall of 1983, the philosopher visited the United States for the last time, and in the summer of 1984 he dies from the terminal stage of HIV infection - AIDS.
