Table of Contents

Foreword vii
 
Part I. The Formation of a New Experience 1
1. Creation, Procreation 3
2. The Laborious Baptism 37
3. The Second Penance 58
4. The Art of Arts 79
 
Part II. Being Virgin 111
1. Virginity and Continence 117
2. On the Arts of Virginity 135
3. Virginity and Self-Knowledge 158
 
Part III. Being Married 191
1. The Duty of Spouses 193
2. The Good and the Goods of Marriage 221
3. The Libidinization of Sex 256
 
Appendices 287
Notes 325
Bibliography 385
Translator’s Note 379

About the Author

One of the leading philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century, MICHEL FOUCAULT was born in Poitiers, France, in 1926. He lectured in universities throughout the world; served as director at the Institut Français in Hamburg, Germany, and at the Institut de Philosophie at the Faculté des Lettres and the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France; and wrote frequently for French newspapers and periodicals. His influence on generations of thinkers in the areas of sociology, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical thinking was profound. Among his many books are The Archaeology of Knowledge, The Birth of the Clinic, Confessions of the Flesh, Discipline and Punish, The Foucault Reader, Madness and Civilization, The Order of Things, and Power/Knowledge. At the time of his death in 1984, Foucault held a chair at the Collège de France, one of France’s most prestigious institutions.

FRÉDÉRIC GROS (editor) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris XII and the Institute of Political Studies, Paris. He was the editor of Foucault’s last published collection of lectures at the Collège de France. He has written books on psychiatry, law, and war, as well as the international best seller A Philosophy of Walking. He lives in Paris.

Reviews

“A brilliant, challenging contribution to the history of ideas.”
— Kirkus Reviews (*starred*) 

“Michel Foucault is a thinker from whose writing one can infer lessons for our modern lives and dilemmas.”
—The Boston Globe

“This is required reading for those who cling to stereotyped ideas about our difference from the Greeks in terms of pagan license versus Christian austerity, or their hedonism versus our anxiety.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Foucault remains a vital reference point, and his History of Sexuality remains required reading.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books