Mental Illness and Psychology (1954) - An examination of the historical conceptions of mental illness and of madness.
Madness and Civilization (1961) - An examination of madness throughout history and an argument that madness is a modern social construct.
The Birth of the Clinic (1963) - An analysis of the medical institution and the theories of knowledge surrounding it.
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (1966) - An argument that distinct periods in history have held distinct assumptions about the nature of truth, which gives reason to the birth of fields like linguistics, history, biology, and economics.
The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969) - Foucault’s ‘archeological’ framework for discerning the systems of knowledge that guided different periods of history (in a similar manner to what is done in The Order of Things).
What Is an Author? (1969) - An argument that the designation of ‘author’ carries with it a cultural and ideological representation.
This Is Not a Pipe (1973) - An analysis of René Magritte's The Treachery of Images.
Psychiatric Power (1974) - Another perspective on the social understanding of madness.
Abnormal (1975) - An examination of abnormality and how the concept is used within power structures.
Discipline and Punish (1975) - An examination of western punishment systems, and argues a shift from bodily to mental or soul-directed punishment occurred that defines society.
The History of Sexuality (1976) - An examination of sexuality and how conversations and public discourse surrounding it fundamentally changed our relationship to it.
Society Must Be Defended (1976) - An argument that power fundamentally is rooted in the systems of war.
Language, Counter-Memory, Practice (1977) - An examination of how language and power intersect.
The Birth of Biopolitics (1979) - An examination of a new type of governance called biopolitics, a type of governance based on the management of life.
Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings (1980) - A collection of essays and interviews on Foucault’s thought, especially regarding social institutions and power.
The Courage of Truth (1984 / Posthumous) - An examination of the risk surrounding truth-telling.
Technologies of the Self (1988) - An argument on how people use voluntary practices shape themselves.
Fearless speech (2001 / Posthumous) - A compilation of lectures on truth-telling, similar to The Courage of Truth.
Hermeneutics of the Subject (2001 / Posthumous) -
Security, Territory, Population (2004 / Posthumous) - An examination of the development of governance throughout history, and the shift that modern governments undertook to regulate the lives of their citizens.
What Is Critique? and The Culture of the Self (2024 / Posthumous) - Foucault’s philosophy framed in the context of the Enlightenment and antiquity.
