ABSTRACT
The analytic of power, Foucault's method for studying how power is exercised, is explicitly detached from the traditional task of political philosophy to study under what conditions power is justified. Nevertheless, Foucault claims that the analytic of power functions against power. How can Foucault's distinctive approach be both diagnostic and against power at the same time? This chapter formulates an answer by arguing that the analytic of power functions against power in the same way as Foucault's archaeology of knowledge does. Both lines of diagnosis disclose elements that organize a system of thought implicitly on the level of savoir, archaeology focusing on the limits of intelligibility, while the analytic of power discloses and explains the stakes and objectives of a given strategic situation in the field of action. Through both paths, Foucault's diagnostic work increases people's autonomy to assess, revise, and resist a given system of thought.
