Foucault’s Research On Subjectivity

The study of subjectivity runs through the whole process of Foucault’s philosophy,and the formation of the subject concept is closely related to the conception of human beings.Foucault’s view of subject reveals how the subject is produced in the knowledge-power configuration,and its existence is restricted by normative forces.Foucault found that many problems of modernity come from the blind belief in the subject.However,the construction of the subjectivity was contradictory from the beginning,and as the contradiction deepened,the construction of the subject failed.At the epistemological level,the subject is limited by the type of knowledge.As a closed device,the knowledge type forms the order of things that have been stipulated.According to the principle of knowledge type,people have developed the corresponding knowledge under each knowledge type.The research on “who is human” is the result of the development of modern knowledge,and the modern knowledge type comes from the strange system of “three pairs”,that is,a priori and experience,self-thinking and non-thinking,and the retreat and return of origin.With the deepening of the contradictions of the modern knowledge type itself,the modern knowledge type is disintegrating,and human beings are gradually blurred or even disappeared in the process.Language has a place to unify everything.At the level of social practice,power technology has become increasingly sophisticated,and subject’s shaping power has moved from dominant hegemony to implicit manipulation.The highest form of power is automatic operation,which makes people imperceptible to the existence of power and perfectly governs people’s actions.Power captures our every joint,shapes every detail and develops a set of disciplined techniques.More importantly,power is also good at hiding itself.For example,when it conducts subtle management of sexual experience,it also makes people think that the control of sex has been loosened and the taboos of sexual behavior have become less.However,power did not always prevail.In ancient Greece,the subject’s technology had its own set of different existential aesthetics.Through the investigation of people’s survival style in ancient Greece,Foucault found that there was no figure of power today.Of course,Foucault did not advocate retro or copy the practices and styles of the ancient Greeks to deal with today’s situation.In the investigation of the philosophy of the former scholastic philosophy period,Foucault discovered the hidden origin of power.In the ancient Greek period,power did not exist;in the Roman period,the role and ability of power was weak;when the Christian morality and laws began to prevail,the method of forming the ethical subject began to move towards heteronomy.Foucault’s diagnosis made us realize that there is a big deviation in our understanding of the subject.However,there is a dislocation between the traditional concept of subject and the situation that the subject is really facing today.People’s superstition of the subject is the ultimate source of the problem of modernity.When inquiring into what a person is,the person itself is dispelled.While believing in humanitarianism,the exposure of power makes people discover their own embarrassment.Foucault’s solution to the subjectivity problem tends to negate the subject entirely,or destroy the subject directly.As long as we have the concept of subject in our consciousness,or we try to establish a unified system or principle,the subject of subjectivity will reappear in a variety of different ways.The formed subject not only obeys the external order in the pure relationship,but also obeys the order of the individual embedded in the normative device.Behind the question of subjectivity is actually a question of philosophy.Like many postmodern thinkers,Foucault is anti-traditional metaphysics,opposing identity and acknowledging pluralism.Deconstructing the subject lies in acknowledging the remote history of the subject,and tracing the simple and noble origin of the subject from a historical perspective.The reflection on the subject is the reflection on modernity.Foucault always pays attention to the subject,and the fate of the subject is also the fate of man.Even if we don’t deny the subject entirely,we should get many important enlightenments from his criticism to think about what kind of subject we need.After experiencing the deep doubts of Nietzsche,Freud,Foucault and others,Western philosophy needs to think about how to respond to their criticism.