Is Foucault dead?

Abstract

This article provides a critical and panoramic reading of Michel Foucault’s work and intellectual legacy, examining both his methodological contributions and the contemporary relevance of his thought. Methodologically, it is an interpretive essay grounded in an extensive textual review of major works—including The Order of Things, The Archaeology of Knowledge, Madness and Civilization, and The History of Sexuality—alongside critical dialogue with authors such as Maurice Blanchot, James Miller, Deleuze, Dreyfus and Rabinow. The analysis also incorporates historical reflections that connect Foucault’s epistemology to recent sociopolitical transformations. The main objective is to evaluate whether Foucault’s conceptual tools remain useful today, particularly in light of globalized societies, digital technologies, new forms of control, shifting modes of subjectivity, the expansion of informational environments, and the crisis of traditional knowledge frameworks. The scope of the article lies in showing that although Foucault died in 1984, his theoretical legacy remains symbolically alive, as it continues to illuminate the workings of power, the construction of subjectivity, the formation of disciplinary devices and the production of truth within society. Nevertheless, the article argues that the current world—characterized by hyperconnectivity, accelerated time, digitalized knowledge and complex informational regimes—requires rethinking or expanding Foucauldian categories. The text concludes that Foucault represents both a historical limit and an opening for renewed critical inquiry into the contemporary subject.