福柯把知识归为话语体系,把话语实践作为分析的重心。在福柯看来,话语分析就是对某些“陈述”的分析,旨在对话语“构成规则”(rules of formation)的规律进行解释,涉及话语客体、陈述方式、主体地位、概念形成、“策略”等要素。实际上就是对知识话语形成的当下条件和构成规则进行说明。福柯明确提出,像精神病学话语、临床医学话语、生物学话语等,都是在特定历史时期由特定的话语实践而建构起来的特定的知识形态。例如,疯癫并非一种客观的存在,在不同的时代,人们曾经把疯癫建构成性质不同的对象;医疗诊断也不是医生主观意识的产物,而是受制于一套现代医疗话语结构和规则的产物。
①E. Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: The Free Press, 1938, p. 14.
②J. Potter & A. Hepburn, “Discursive Constructionism”, In Handbook of Constructionist Research, Edited by J. A. Holstein & J. F. Gubrium, New York: The Guilford Press, 2008, pp. 275—293.
③米歇尔·福柯:《知识考古学》,谢强、马月译,三联书店2007年版,第53页。
④Norman Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1992, p. 55.
⑤米歇尔·福柯:《性史》,张廷琛等译,上海科学技术文献出版社1989年版,第12页。
⑥Ian Hutchby & Robin Wooffitt, Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1998, p. 14.
⑦Robin Wooffitt, Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis: A Comparative and Critical Introduction, London: Sage Publication, 2005, p. 78.
⑧G. N. Gilbert & M. Mulkay, Opening Pandora's Box: A Sociological Analysis of Scientists' Discourse, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984, p. 56.
⑩M. Mulkay, J. Potter and S. Yearley, “Why an Analysis of Scientific Discourse is Needed”, In Science Observed: Perspectives on the Social Study of Science, Edited by K. Knorr—Cetina & M. Mulkay, Beverley Hills and London: Sage, 1983, pp. 195&196.