Paul Veyne 
Foucault 
His Thought, His Character

Michel Foucault and Paul Veyne: the philosopher and the historian.
Two major figures in the world of ideas, resisting all attempts at
categorization. Two timeless thinkers who have long walked and
fought together. In this short book Paul Veyne offers a fresh
portrait of his friend and relaunches the debate about his ideas
and legacy. ’Foucault is not who you think he is’,
writes Veyne; he stood neither on the left nor on the right and was
frequently disowned by both. He was not so much a structuralist as
a sceptic, an empiricist disciple of Montaigne, who never ceased in
his work to reflect on ’truth games’, on singular, constructed
truths that belonged to their own time.

A unique testimony by a scholar who knew Foucault well, this book
succeeds brilliantly in grasping the core of his thought and in
stripping away the confusions and misunderstandings that have so
often characterized the interpretation of Foucault and his work.

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction 1

1 In Universal History, Everything is Singular:
’Discourse’ 5

2 There is No ’a priori’ that is Not Historical
22

3 Foucault’s Scepticism 37

4 Archaeology 54

5 Universalism, Universals, Epigenesis: The Beginnings of
Christianity 59

6 Notwithstanding Heidegger, Man is an Intelligent Animal 66

7 The Physical and Human Sciences: Foucault’s Programme
77

8 A Sociological History of Truths: Knowledge, Power, the Set-up
92

9 Was Foucault a Corrupter of the Young? Was He the Despair of
the Workers’ Movement? 111

10 Foucault and Politics 125

11 Portrait of a Samurai 135

Notes 147

Index 187

Om författaren

Paul Veyne is Honorary Professor at the Collège de
France.