Normalization, Power And Death

Normalization, which is on of the core characteristics of modernity, was first reflected philosophically by Canguilhem and Foucault. This thesis concentrates on this point, which has not been studied much in China.Canguilhem argues that it is impossible to juedge whether life is normal or not by establishing a usniversal norm deriving from data, experiment, ect, since life is normative, which means life can build norms of his own, life not only adapts to enviorenment but also changes it, so there is not a solid norm to draw a distinction between normal and pathological. And the meaning of normativity is displayed in resist to death. The backgroud of death is needed when Canguilhem makes arguments of life's normativity.Foucault's illustration of normalizaiton develops from Canguilhem, and he transforms it into political concept. In Birth of the Clinic, death, along with the medical gaze shaped by it, cause the apperance of morden individuals, which is also a conditon and result of power of normaliztion latter developed by Foucault. In Discipline and Punish, a new type of power is carefully analised, whose point of action is individual body, which aims at normalizing it and making it more useful and tractable. In The Will to Knowledge, Foucault trise to perfect the argument of new power. Such power also motions on the level of group, normalizes and controls the process of life. The two types of powers are in fact the polarities of the same type of power, that is called the bio-power. Death displays the limit of the domain of ancient type of power, while modern power avoids death. For the latter power, death is among the most radical way to express subjectivity and escapes the domain of normalization. In brief, death is a indispensable element in analyzing power of normalization.Using the analysis of bio-power, Foucault strongly analyzes the phenomenon of depoliticized politics and illustrates the new kind of slavary. Though he claims that his analysis power of normalization is different from traditional one, but yet such power still operates within the domain of nation-state and he cannot avoid the problem of sovereignty. And his analysis of depoliticized politics leads him to fall into the dilemma the depolitics, making any political practice impossible. So, facing the globalizaiton today, a new kind of analysis of power is necessary, for which a global perspective is required.