The primary evidence Foucault uses to justify his comments about human society is how sexuality was viewed in classical times compared to how it is viewed today. He says that governments now regulate sexuality because they have to ensure the longevity and health of their population. Because society now values life more than it did in the past, power is more widespread across the population because of wider sovereignty. Foucault's evidence for this point is not always direct, maybe because his research methods are also not always direct. He says that racism and Nazism are proof that biopolitics now exist. "Nazism was doubtless the most cunning and the most naive (and the former because of the latter) combination of the fantasies of blood and the paraoxysms of a disciplinary power" (Foucault 271). It seems that Foucault's thesis about biopolitics is supported with evidence that could be both a cause and an effect of biopolitics, so it is difficult to always know if he is using it as an example of biopower or a cause of it, which can make questioning his argument difficult. Still, his evidence on the whole seems to be very strong, and his interpretation of it is very persuasive.
Overall, Michel Foucault's "Right of Death...
The points that are made are continually changing throughout the reading so that the reader may become very confused at points. As a whole piece, however, this article is very strong and involves a lot of historical details and evidence, making it a very good article. It is clear that Foucault knows what he is talking about and is interested in having the deepest look at life and death in history that he can. This is a very respectable course to have taken for Foucault and the article shows the serious hand he must have taken to write it. As the subject is such a difficult one, the most likely people to study this text are sociologists interested in having a historical sense of the methods that they study. These researchers will also be interested in life and death as less than philosophical and more practical concerns for kings and other rulers. These interests will lead to a very informative study of the changes in viewing the importance of life and death to human beings through a short piece of history.
Works Cited
Foucault, Michel. "The Right of Death and Power Over Life." History of Sexuality: Vol I.
