The Discourse of the Philanthropist. A Genealogy of the Bourgeois Hegemony

Abstract

The topic of this article is the «discourse of the philanthropist» in the thought of Michel Foucault. The discourse of the philanthropist has played a vital role in the formation of the psychiatric and psychological sciences; was crucial in the birth and development of modern penalty; has deeply influenced the history of the prison institution and was instrumental in the formation of the working class. Finally, the discourse of the philanthropist has animated the human and social sciences from the first half of the nineteenth century. The discourse of the philanthropist, for Foucault, is the discourse that addresses the meaning of reality as a norm and rule that the behaviors, actions and representations of individuals must be uniform in all areas in which it carries out their existence.