This lecture, given by Michel Foucault at the College de France, launches an inquiry into the notion of parresia and continues his rereading of ancient philosophy. Through the study of this notion of truth-telling, of speaking out freely, Foucault re-examines Greek citizenship, showing how the courage of the truth forms the forgotten ethical basis of Athenian democracy. The figure of the philosopher king, the condemnation of writing, and Socrates' rejection of political involvement are some of the many topics of ancient philosophy revisited here.

「本書提供了精確而綜合的觀點……我相信這本著作為聯繫美國和歐洲的思想開啟了新的境域」——傅柯（Michel Foucault） 「重點不是說了什麼，而是誰在說」 本書是兩位傑出學者聯手向傅柯的挑戰，也是迄今對傅柯學說歷程描述的最具深度的佳作。傅柯的傑出之處在於對考古學和系譜學的巧妙混用，從而獨創了一種有別於結構主義和詮釋學的理解人和社會的方法 ，即本書作者所謂的「詮釋解析法」。 本書的可貴之處有三。首先，傅柯學說對今日的影響已廣泛運用於各種權力論述，甚至及於網絡社會的研究，但是他如何能在當時瀰漫著現象學、結構主義以及詮釋學的氛圍中，開創新局，展開一場以「權力」為探索主軸的知識考古旅程，卻難以為識者所悉，本書是最好的入門手冊。 其次，兩位作者學域含括廣泛，德福雷斯鑽研於現象學、詮釋學，拉比諾則長於結構主義，所論所述，剛好切合了當時傅柯所處的學術氛圍，誠如中譯者所言，「復活」了傅柯學說。 最後，本書另收入了哈伯瑪斯與傅柯的爭議評析，哈伯瑪斯所提出的公共領域、合法化問題，今日仍是社會學理論的主流，他與傅柯對「啟蒙」的論爭，不啻勾勒出當代西方哲學的探索路徑。

The definitive edition of Foucault's articles, interviews, and seminars. . Few philosophers have had as strong an influence on the twentieth century as Michel Foucault. His work has affected the teaching of any number of disciplines and remains, twenty years after his death, critically important. This newly available edition is drawn from the complete collection of all of Foucault's courses, articles, and interviews, and brings his most important work to a new generation of readers. . Power (edited by James D. Faubion) draws together Foucault's contributions to what he saw as the still-underdeveloped practice of political analysis. It covers the domains Foucault helped to make part of the core agenda of Western political culture—medicine, psychiatry, the penal system, and sexuality.

When one defines "order" as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century. Eclipsed by his later work on power and discourse, nonetheless it was The Order of Things that established Foucault's reputation as an intellectual giant. Pirouetting around the outer edge of language, Foucault unsettles the surface of literary writing. In describing the limitations of our usual taxonomies, he opens the door onto a whole new system of thought, one ripe with what he calls "exotic charm". Intellectual pyrotechnics from the master of critical thinking, this book is crucial reading for those who wish to gain insight into that odd beast called Postmodernism, and a must for any fan of Foucault.