Political Historicism of Michel Foucault

The article explores the relation between historical knowledge and political philosophy of sovereignty in Michel Foucault's late work. The concept of «political historicism», introduced in «Society Must Be Defended» lectures, is analysed. This concept was not further developed by Foucault and thus has not attracted due attention in literature. However, its principles are incorporated into the genealogical method. According to Foucault, the classic theory of sovereignty initially articulated by Thomas Hobbes emerged as a counterweight to the historical-political discourse of seventeenth-century England. Although it includes the construct of «war of all against all», the historical factuality of war is not seen essential to the institution of political order. Historical knowledge is systematically disqualified from Hobbes’s theory, which Foucault examines in its polemical context. He states that Hobbes opposes contemporary political historicism, which insists that any political idea can only be understood as a weapon of a particular ideological struggle. Despite all the differences between variants of political historicism developed from 17th century onwards, this kind of discourse always presupposes a specific form of sociology. According to that, the structure of society is binary, as it is constantly being split apart by two conflicting groups. Political history is thus the history of war within society. Contrary to the classic theory of sovereignty, this sociology systematically opposes society and the state. Here the state is seen not as a product of social contract, but as a result of situational balance of powers, an instrument of continuation of the everlasting war within society by nonmilitary means. The article shows that Foucault not only studies political historicism as a form of historical knowledge, but also adheres to its principles in his own critique of sovereignty as a crucial component of the recent biopolitical dispositive. This is precisely the reason why among Foucault’s better-known studies in genealogy, «Society Must Be Defended» is the closest one to a purely sociological work. Therefore, the more thorough study of political historicism allows to rehabilitate a relatively less explored region of Foucault's oeuvre and to outline new productive ways of keeping his legacy relevant while acknowledging the shortcomings of his method.