A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation [...] He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribed in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection.
The soul is the effect and instrument of a political anatomy; the soul is the prison of the body
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the soul influences and is influenced by societal structures, while also implying that it can confine the body within these structures.
Michel Foucault's quote reflects on the relationship between the soul, the body, and political structures. He posits that the soul is both shaped by social forces and, at the same time, serves as a means through which power is exercised over the body. This indicates a complex interplay where individual identity and behaviors are not solely innate but are also constructed by external societal norms and conditions, leading to both liberation and entrapment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on the impact of societal structures on personal freedom, one could quote this to emphasize the philosophical perspectives on autonomy.
More from Michel Foucault
All quotes βMatthey, a Geneva physician very close to Rousseau's influence, formulates the prospect for all men of reason: 'Do not glory in your state, if you are wise and civilized men; an instant suffices to disturb and annihilate that supposed wisdom of which you are so proud; an unexpected event, a sharp and sudden emotion of the soul will abruptly change the most reasonable and intelligent man into a raving idiot.
But the guilty person is only one of the targets of punishment. For punishment is directed above all at others, at all the potentially guilty.
I donβt feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning. If you knew when you began a book what you would say at the end, do you think that you would have the courage to write it? What is true for writing and for love relationships is true also for life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we donβt know what will be the end.
You may have killed God beneath the weight of all that you have said; but don't imagine that, with all that you are saying, you will make a man that will live longer than he.
The work of an intellectual is not to mould the political will of others; it is, through the analyses that he does in his own field, to re-examine evidence and assumptions, to shake up habitual ways of working and thinking, to dissipate conventional familiarities, to re-evaluate rules and institutions and to participate in the formation of a political will (where he has his role as citizen to play).
Similar quotes
Equal protection under the law - for race, religion, gender or sexual orientation - should not be subject to the most popular sentiments of the day.
Our Heavenly Father has provided many delightful inns for us along our journey, but he takes great care to see that we do not mistake any of them for home.
She would have liked not to be alive, or to be always asleep.
I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.
You are living in a dream of your own creation. Let it be the dream of a lifetime, for that is exactly what it is.
The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.