Pouvoir foucaldien et sélection naturelle. Une comparaison et une divergence

Abstract

Foucauldian Power and Natural Selection: A Comparison and a Divergence

This paper has a triple aim. First of all, it makes a comparison between Foucault’s notion of power relations and the notion of natural selection as it has been developed, since Darwin, by evolutionary biology. A number of common points between these two notions are analyzed here, such as acting on a spontaneity, facticity, fundamental visibility and global character. By analyzing these common points, this paper attempts – and this is its second aim – to indicate and criticize several preconceptions about natural selection that still plague the comprehension, especially of non-specialists, of the notion of natural selection. Finally, by a thorough analysis of these common features, this article also attempts to indicate a point of radical divergence between these two notions, i.e. a central point that makes it impossible for the two notions to find a common application ground.

Keywords: natural selection, power relations, Foucault, first person, preconception