Marxist Interpretation Of Foucault's Humanistic Thought

Michel Foucault is one of the most influential philosophers in the western society in the twentieth century.His thought covers philosophy,history,literature,sociology,literary theory,psychology and many other categories.His influence on the field of humanities is far-reaching and lasting.He is known as "Nietzsche of France in the 20 th century","the most important thinker in France after Sartre".Foucault has great research value for us to understand the western capitalist society in the twentieth century.Foucault's thought is complex and obscure,and different periods focus on different contents.It is not easy to grasp Foucault's thought comprehensively.Through the research,it is found that although Foucault's thought covers many fields of humanities.However,there is one core of all his thoughts: human beings.He introduced the knowledge-discourse system,expounded the "death of man" and the essence and generation of man,and put forward the "survival aesthetics" in order to discuss the plight of modern man's existence and the way of man's liberation.Therefore,Foucault's humanistic thought is an extremely important part of his ideological system.It is of considerable theoretical value to systematically sort out the formation background,theoretical sources,development context,basic characteristics,research methods and main contents of Foucault's humanistic thought.Marx's research on man himself is also very concerned and runs through all the time,from the study of man's "self-consciousness" in Doctoral Dissertation to the description of man's "labor alienation" in Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of1844,to the stipulation of human nature in the Outline of Feuerbach,to the proposal of the way of man's emancipation-class struggle in the Declaration of the Communist Party.In addition,Engels' research on the significance of labor to the differences between human and animal races in The Role of Labor in the Process of Change from Ape to Man shows that anthropology occupies a certain position in the whole of Marxism.Therefore,based on the historical background of Marxist and Foucault's systematic research in the fields of human nature,dilemma,liberation and so on,and their inherent inheritance relationship.It is necessary and reasonable to interpret Foucault's humanistic thought with Marxism.However,in order to interpret Foucault's humanistic thought with Marxism,we should pay special attention to the theoretical background of their "inheritance relationship".The discussion of the relationship between Marxism and Foucault should not be confined to Foucault's own words,but should consider the internal relationship between them in the light of the specific historical context and the development and changes of Foucault's academic career.In a sense,Foucault is "Marx without quotation marks".Foucault expounded abundant humanistic thoughts by the concepts of knowledge,power and discourse,and classified human essence as "uncertainty".He interpreted human subjectivity as "illusion" and "death".He classified human predicament as alienation of knowledge and truth,shaping of human by reason,admonishing human by rules,etc.He appealed to "local struggle" and "survival aesthetics" for human emancipation.Archaeology and genealogy are the methods of his research.Foucault's humanistic thought provides a unique and innovative perspective for the interpretation of human beings;provides a new practical method for the liberation of human beings;provides examples and materials for the in-depth understanding of modern capitalist society;at the same time,it also makes people improve their reflection on science and technology and rationality,and pay attention to the marginal whole.However,Foucault's humanistic thought also has many shortcomings: too abstract to reveal the essence of human beings;too metaphysical and aesthetic to discuss the way of human liberation;not aware of the enormous role of economic factors on human beings.While systematically combing Foucault's humanistic thought,based on the basic viewpoints,standpoints and methods of Marxism,this paper interprets Foucault's humanistic thought with Marxism,especially studies the latter with Marxist humanities,and makes a reasonable evaluation of its historical significance.The author takes Foucault's human nature,human dilemma,human emancipation,human subject issues,human research methods as the main research objects,and combines their intrinsic relevance,comprehensively interprets Foucault's human thought with the basic concepts and principles of Marxist human science.