Modernity and politics of the self : an investigation of the political project underlying the work of Michel Foucault

The central task of this dissertation is to explore Michel Foucault's conception of the human subject, and its interaction with power. Foucault offers a unique and controversial description of both the latter. After positing that his work is both coherent and political in nature, the dissertation investigates Foucault's books, lectures, interviews and articles throughout his three main periods. I have named these his Knowledge, Power, and Ethics periods to delineate different theoretical focuses in each period which are nevertheless underscored by a singular and continuous concern on Foucault's part with the constitution of the modern human subject; in addition, Foucault is interested in problematizing the "birth" and existence of this latter construction, which he believes is problematic in terms of the epistemological foundation upon which it rests, and the ontological consequences of such an entity.