Foucauldian archaeology and Figures du fou: Stultorum infinitus est numerus

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36517/arf.v17i1.95540

Keywords:

Michel Foucault. Madness. Archaeology. Art. History.

Abstract

In this paper, we dive into the archive of Figures du fou, an exhibition that took place at the Louvre Museum between 2024 and 2025, led by the following question: why do we see, since the Renaissance, a decrease in the variety, the multiple possibilities of depicting madness? To approach the problem, we will utilize the toolkit of Foucauldian archaeology. Thus, in the first section we will present the question, establishing a parallel with History of madness, and enumerating the methodological instruments provided by The Archaeology of Knowledge; in the second section, we will explore the myriad of depictions of the mad (or fool) in the Middle Ages, and its narrowing in the Renaissance; in the third section, we will approach the even harsher restrictions imposed upon the depiction of madness during the Classical Age, as well as the tensions against these borders that emerge in Modernity. Our goal is to describe how the conditions of possibility of the aesthetic depiction of madness were historically formed, and what possibilities the present offers to us.

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Author Biographies

Daniela Lima Barros, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF); Universidade de Lisboa (UL)

Doutoranda em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) e pela Universidade de Lisboa (UL).

Rafael Lima Barros, Universidade de Paris-Nanterre (UPN)

Doutorando em Filosofia pela Universidade de Paris-Nanterre (UPN).

References

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Published

2025-07-31 — Updated on 2025-10-03

How to Cite

Barros, D. L., & Barros, R. L. (2025). Foucauldian archaeology and Figures du fou: Stultorum infinitus est numerus. Argumentos - Revista De Filosofia, 17(1), 146–180. https://doi.org/10.36517/arf.v17i1.95540

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Dossiê Foucault: vidas infames e insubmissas

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Copyright (c) 2025 Daniela Lima Barros, Rafael Lima Barros

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