In the middle ages there were gaols and dungeons, but punishment was for the most part a spectacle. The economic changes and growing popular dissent of the eighteenth century made necessary a more systematic control over the individual members of society, and this in effect meant a change from punishment, which chastised the body, to reform, which touched the soul. Foucault shows in fascinating detail the development of the Western system of prisons, police organizations, administrative and legal hierarchies of social control --- and the growth of disciplinary society as a whole. He also reveals that the comparison between a school and a prison is not purely facetious --- prisons, schools, factories, barracks and hospitals all share a common organization, in which it is possible to control the use of an individual's time and space hour by hour.

什麼是知識？知識如何產生、發展、改變或消失？傅柯是當代歐洲文化、思想史最受矚目的學者之一，他拆解西方理性迷思，質疑歷史法則邏輯，重普知識衍生、傳佈的脈絡。 相對於傳統史學，其「考掘學」將歷史流程空間化、暴露知識體系的斷層，從而顯示意義、法理、道統的權宜性與擴散性；立論曲折，引人思辯，是觀察世紀末西方人文現象的重要入門。

《规训与惩罚(修订译本)》旨在论述关于现代灵魂与一种新的审判权力之间相互关系的历史，论述现行的科学一法律综合体的系谱。在这种综合体中。惩罚权力获得了自身的基础、证明和规则。扩大了自己的效应，并且用这种综合体掩饰自己超常的独特性。

《临床医学的诞生》是米歇尔·福柯的一部医学史研究专著，探讨现代意义上的医学，也就是临床医学的诞生的历史。作者以18、19世纪众多著名的临床医学家的著作和各种相关领域的文献为依据，从历史和批评的角度研究了医学实践的可能性和条件，描绘了医学科学从对传统医学理论的绝对相信转向对实证观察的信赖，从封闭式的治疗转向开放式的治疗，从而导致在临床诊断中诸如征候、症状、言语、病人、病体、环境等一系列因素和其相互关系的重新组合，及医学认识的深刻改造这样一个完整的过程。