A CRITIQUE OF MICHEL FOUCAULT'S INTERPRETATION OF NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI

Abstract

Machiavelli, who lived in Florence, Italy between the years of 1469-1527, is an important thinker who expressed his political breaks. The ultimate aim of the thinker who writes the book of Prince with a specific discourse; to provide the national unity of Italy by utilizing the foundations of history. This point makes the Prince book important. Finally; When we look at the book of the Prince, Machiavelli gives a lot of advice on the way of national unity, and at some point makes important determinations about political science. Michel Foucault was born on 15 October 1926 in Poitiers, France. In 1946, he started working with École Normale Supérieure, one of France's most popular educational institutions. He studied in “philosophy” in 1948 and “psychology” in 1949 and received his diploma. In 1954, he wrote a doctoral thesis at Uppsala University, Sweden. Foucault also taught in the French Department of Uppsala University in Sweden between 1955 and 1959. In both thinkers he directed the political discourses of his time. The main purpose of this study is; It is to criticize the interpretations of Michel Foucault directed by Niccolò Machiavelli to the book of the Prince. In this study, Michel Foucault's “Governmentality” lecture given in Collège de France on February 1, 1978, will be examined and his reading of Machiavelli which Foucault did in the course plane will be examined.