Punishments as Social Phenomena and the Non-Phenomenologist

Michel Foucault has denied that his approach is phenomenological, viz. that "which gives absolute priority to the observing subject." (1)  Instead, he uses what is termed the archaeological method.  Rather than view discourse from the eyes of a beholder, who when speaking "subjects himself to constraints of which he is only dimly aware," speech occurs on the plane of the 'it is said,' which comprises the "totality of things said." (2)  When reading historical narratives or evaluating first-hand testimonies, the question arises, who is speaking?  From that answer we can posit another question, what should we make out of this information?  Foucault, when speaking about the transformation of punishment in the French penal system, is careful to alert the reader that he wishes to approach punishment as a totality of things said.  That means that in describing the 'micro-physics of power,' he is not looking at the agency of sovereigns, judges or the condemned, but rather, illustrating the power-relations that exist external to historical subjects.   

Foucault admits that punishments must be studied as "social phenomena." (3)  However, they are phenomena that belong to a discourse.  As such, they comprise "the relations, the regularities, and the transformations" that make up the totality of things, and from within which an individual speaks. (4)  If we look at the implications, there is a kind of paradox for Foucault.  He identifies the 'carceral' system as problematic, and places it within the larger phenomenon of the 'political technology of the body.'  Evidently, however, he himself is a part of the technology of the body.  How can Foucault claim to observe the totality of things if he himself is a part of it, and therefore, subject to its effects?  So is the paradox.  This paradox is philosophical, but it raises a genuine historiographical question.  How can Foucault's account of the transformation of punishment be credible if he is speaking from within the totality of things?

 

 

 

(1) Frank III, Arthur W.  "The Politics of the New Positivity:  A Review Essay of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish." Human Studies Vol. 5 (Jan. - Mar. 1982): 61-67. 62.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. New York:  Vintage Books, 1995. 24.
(4) Frank. 62.