PHILOSOPHER

Michel Foucault

1926 - 1984

Photo of Michel Foucault

Icon of person Michel Foucault

Paul-Michel Foucault (UK: , US: ; French: [pɔl miʃɛl fuko]; 15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Michel Foucault has received more than 7,383,459 page views. His biography is available in 87 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 85 in 2019). Michel Foucault is the 52nd most popular philosopher (down from 46th in 2019), the 54th most popular biography from France (up from 60th in 2019) and the 5th most popular Philosopher.

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

Memorability Metrics

  • 7.4M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 79.32

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 87

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 11.59

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.68

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Michel Foucaults by language


Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Michel Foucault ranks 52 out of 1,081. Before him are Al-Farabi, Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Amos Comenius, Zeno of Elea, Empedocles, and Karl Popper. After him are Hannah Arendt, Lucretius, Plotinus, Henri Bergson, Anaxagoras, and Herbert Spencer.

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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 Ingvar Kamprad, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Jiang Zemin, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Leslie Nielsen, Miles Davis, Sathya Sai Baba, and Dario Fo. Among people deceased in 1984, Michel Foucault ranks 1. After him are Richard Burton, Yuri Andropov, Indira Gandhi, François Truffaut, Paul Dirac, Johnny Weissmuller, Martin Niemöller, Ray Kroc, Mikhail Sholokhov, Truman Capote, and Ed Gein.

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 54 out of 6,011. Before him are Michel de Montaigne (1533), Émile Zola (1840), Claudius (-10), Brigitte Bardot (1934), Francis I of France (1494), and Pierre de Fermat (1601). After him are William the Conqueror (1028), Stendhal (1783), Gustave Flaubert (1821), Edgar Degas (1834), Georges Bizet (1838), and Jacques-Louis David (1748).

Others born in France

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In France

Among philosophers born in France, Michel Foucault ranks 5. Before him are René Descartes (1596), Montesquieu (1689), Auguste Comte (1798), and Michel de Montaigne (1533). After him are Henri Bergson (1859), Peter Abelard (1079), Jean Bodin (1530), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809), Roland Barthes (1915), Henri de Saint-Simon (1760), and Charles Fourier (1772).

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