The Foucaultian paradox

[Specforces]

Well I hope my idea is appreciated here. I have never read it anyone where else so I will take pride in its conception.

French post-modernist/pos-structuralist thinking Michel Foucault claimed that all knowledge is (inevitably) imbued with power. This includes his knowledge- this he freely admits. Merquior, in his book on Foucault that savages him mercilessly, claims this is a form of the Cretan's liars paradox= 'Everything I say is a lie. True or false?' He claims that we try as much as possible to extricate knowledge from power, speicifcally institutions.

Yet, I will go a little bit further. Foucault's only theory is the only one that becomes less successful as it becomes more successful. Amongst the social science faculties, where his influence has mostly been felt, his post-modern theory of power is the most highly regarded and used. So it is the most imbued with power. To paraphrase my thought,

It doesn’t look like any rival post-modern discourse on power will attract power to its side in the near future, even though the rival discourse is almost certainly a superior discourse, Foucaultianly speaking, than Foucault’s own discourse as it is less institutionalized.

Specforces