Revolution

Foucault rarely speaks about revolution in his work, and then only in relatively marginal texts. However, where he does speak of it, he accords great importance to the concept, suggesting, in particular, that “all modern thought, like all modern politics, has been dominated by the question of the revolution” (FDE3, 266, my translation; cf. EPPC, 121). Foucault does not exempt himself from this historical horizon of revolutionary thought and politics but rather grasps it deliberately. As with so many concepts, Foucault shows us that revolution, far from being a simple, objective, fundamental category, is of a recent date. For Foucault, the concept of political revolution is the product of a particular episode in the history of thought.