福柯所謂的「瘋狂」

Madness as Foucault Sees It

自從福柯討論「瘋狂」後，它就是個飽受爭論的主題。本文的主旨是以福柯的各種作品為依據，探討瘋狂在福柯哲學系統中的意義，並探究它和權力與文化的關聯。對福柯而言，「權力」並不只是一種壓制的力量。權力和文化有著密不可分的關係。根據福柯的理論，文化是建立自我認同的一種手段。人性不完全是社會性，也不完全是反社會性。「瘋狂」是所有會危害社穩定的人性特質的總稱。文化藉由定義「瘋狂」，讓人把人性中反主會性的部分視為獸性，而非人性的一部分。當人不認同自己與生俱來的獸性時，他自然就成了一個循規蹈矩，對社會沒有威脅的順民。

Madness has been differently interpreted since Michel Foucault has brought it up and made it such a controversial issue. The chief purpose is to reinterpret Foucault's theory of madness with reference to his own works and to relate it to the other important subjects in Foucault's philosophical framework, such as power and culture. The defining of madness is a means for power to exercise itself over people. But power for Foucault is not necessarily repressive. Power and culture are closely related. In Foucault's theory, culture is a means for the establishment of self-identity and madness is but a collective name for those thoughts and behaviors not compatible that may be detrimental to the interests of society. Through the defining of madness, culture manages to make man to identify himself with what he is not and turn him into a tamed and socially agreeable animal.