Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) is considered by many the greatest thinker of the 20th century. His most famous work focuses on two things: sexuality and its construction (his concern with this issue was always at hand; he was openly, albeit quietly, homosexual ), which he discusses in three volumes of The History of Sexuality – which took almost twenty years to complete – and the structure of power in society, which he discusses mostly in Power/Knowledge but also in other works. Foucault generally rejected those tenets of society that many hold dear; he smoked marijuana, did LSD and opium, and partook in many other socially stigmatized activities. In this essay, we will discuss only the metaphysics of knowledge, discourse, and truth in terms of Foucault's power theories.
             In Power/Knowledge, Foucault contends that "...in a society such as ours... there are manifold relations of power that permeate, characterize and constitute the social body, and these relations of power cannot themselves be established, consolidated, nor implemented without the production, accumulation, circulation and functioning of a discourse." At the most basic level, he argues, power is situated in various social practices and norms, and this power is manifested through the facilitation of discourse. He argues that in society, the constituents of certain power structures control individuals. The constituents are those who possess specialist, specific knowledge on any certain subject. Because "... speech acts are dialogical, intersubjective exchanges with reciprocal effects on many speakers," those specialists whom spread that knowledge are those whom are in power. For example, "having a specialist knowledge in a unique discourse allows a psychiatrist to have unique power and control. The psychiatrist has power to diagnose a condition, and because the person belongs to this specialist discourse, their...