PHILOSOPHER

Michel Foucault

1926 - 1984

Photo of Michel Foucault

Icon of person Michel Foucault

Paul-Michel Foucault (UK: FOO-koh, US: foo-KOH; French: [pɔl miʃɛl fuko]; 15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984) was a French historian of ideas and philosopher who also served as an author, literary critic, political activist, and teacher. Foucault's theories primarily addressed the relationships between power versus knowledge and liberty, and he analyzed how they are used as a form of social control through multiple institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels and sought to critique authority without limits on himself. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Michel Foucault has received more than 9,394,165 page views. His biography is available in 91 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 87 in 2019). Michel Foucault is the 53rd most popular philosopher, the 66th most popular biography from France (down from 54th in 2019) and the 4th most popular French Philosopher.

Michel Foucault is most famous for his work on the history of society and the human sciences.

Memorability Metrics

  • 9.4M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 78.38

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 91

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 11.21

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.94

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Michel Foucault ranks 53 out of 1,267. Before him are Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Amos Comenius, Lucretius, Hannah Arendt, Anaxagoras, and Plotinus. After him are Thomas More, Henri Bergson, Karl Popper, Zeno of Elea, Mikhail Bakunin, and Epictetus.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1926, Michel Foucault ranks 4. Before him are Elizabeth II, Marilyn Monroe, and Fidel Castro. After him are Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ingvar Kamprad, Jiang Zemin, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Leslie Nielsen, Dario Fo, Andrzej Wajda, and Svetlana Alliluyeva. Among people deceased in 1984, Michel Foucault ranks 2. Before him is Richard Burton. After him are Yuri Andropov, Indira Gandhi, Paul Dirac, François Truffaut, Mikhail Sholokhov, Johnny Weissmuller, Mohamed Naguib, Julio Cortázar, Martin Niemöller, and Alfred Kastler.

Others Born in 1926

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Others Deceased in 1984

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In France

Among people born in France, Michel Foucault ranks 66 out of 6,770. Before him are Sarah Bernhardt (1844), Francis I of France (1494), Claudius (-10), Arthur Rimbaud (1854), Louis Philippe I (1773), and Louis de Funès (1914). After him are François Rabelais (1494), Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933), Jean-François Champollion (1790), Henri Bergson (1859), Pierre de Fermat (1601), and Edgar Degas (1834).

Others born in France

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In France

Among philosophers born in France, Michel Foucault ranks 4. Before him are René Descartes (1596), Montesquieu (1689), and Auguste Comte (1798). After him are Henri Bergson (1859), Michel de Montaigne (1533), Peter Abelard (1079), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809), Jean Bodin (1530), Roland Barthes (1915), Gilles Deleuze (1925), and Henri de Saint-Simon (1760).

French born Philosophers

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