An Introduction to the Theoretical Enterprise of Michael Foucault

Michael Foucault is regarded as one of the interdisciplinary and even inter paradigmatic figures in the contemporary social theory who embraces a large variety of theoretical interests, issues and areas. Therefore, he could be located in several different approaches and paradigms including critical approaches, social interpretivism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism; although he is not tightly related to any of them. On one hand, Foucault’s theories and insights are based on theoretical eclecticism stemming from the contemporary philosophical traditions, and on the other hand, he contributed in constitution and expansion of a new theoretical enterprise. As a result, Foucault’s perspective is both a product of his criticism on dominant socio-philosophical perspectives and his undertaking to synthesize a new initiative approach. The Foucault’s new theoretical enterprise presents a new paradigmatic foundation containing ontology, philosophical anthropology, epistemology, and methodology. This paper aims to explore Foucault’s theoretical perspectives and insights, his theoretical eclecticism, and his paradigmatic stances. In this respect, a brief overview of his major works is presented. Then, his intellectual backgrounds and theoretical syntheses are discussed. The main part of the paper is devoted to Foucault’s philosophical anthropology, ontology, epistemology, methodology with a focus on genealogy and archeology. The paper ends with addressing some major criticisms which were leveled against Foucault’s perspective as well as a few final remarks.