The subject in Foucault's work: from the body-power to life-government ; Le sujet chez Foucault : du corps-pouvoir à la vie-gouvernement

Abstract

This article aims to situate the notions of subject, body and life in Foucault from the transition from a conceptual framework based on notions of body-power to one centered on those of life-government. My hypothesis is that this movement characterizes the development of his research between the 1970s and the 1980s. The central problem is the difficulty of thinking about the ontological status of power relations (in the physical sense) without attributing to the body a sort of ontological quality of the same type (as in all forms of vitalism), which leads Foucault to favor the theme of life over that of the body in the development of his "question of the subject". ; Cet article vise à situer les notions de sujet, de corps et de vie chez Foucault à partir du passage d'un cadre conceptuel basé sur les notions de corps-pouvoir à un centré sur celles de vie-gouvernement. Mon hypothèse est que ce mouvement caractérise le développement de ses recherches entre les années 1970 et les années 1980. Le problème central est la difficulté de penser le statut ontologique des rapports de pouvoir (au sens physique) sans attribuer au corps une sorte de qualité ontologique du même type (comme dans tous les formes de vitalisme), ce qui conduit Foucault à privilégier la thèmatique de la vie à celle du corps dans le développement de sa «question du sujet». ; This article aims to situate the notions of subject, body and life in Foucault from the transition from a conceptual framework based on notions of body-power to one centered on those of life-government. My hypothesis is that this movement characterizes the development of his research between the 1970s and the 1980s. The central problem is the difficulty of thinking about the ontological status of power relations (in the physical sense) without attributing to the body a sort of ontological quality of the same type (as in all forms of vitalism), which leads Foucault to favor the theme of life over that of the body in the development of his "question of the subject".