Tārīkh-i pizishkī (i.e., History of Medicine)

Abstract

Michel Foucault, who due to his rhetorical and critical approach, has exerted dramatic effects on sociology, history, philosophy, and political philosophy, has a particular disposition towards history which is very different from typical approaches in history, under the influence of the teachings of Nietzsche and scholars such as Georges Canguilhem and Gaston Bachelard. Foucault thinking and his works are categorized into two periods of genealogy and archeology. Despite of the differences in the works and thoughts of Foucault in these two periods, the basic assumptions of the thoughts of Foucault are identical in the two periods. One of the most important works of Foucault on the genealogical period is a book titled the clinic birth. The Clinic birth provides the possibility of rewriting medical history and doctor-patient relationship. In this book, Foucault explains the performance of medical knowledge at various ages and indicates the inaccuracy of the linear approach to history and the collective approach to science. The preset article studies the main ideas in the clinic birth after introducing the genealogical method.