Paul-Michel Foucault was a French historian of ideas, philosopher, author, literary critic, political activist, and teacher. Foucault's theories primarily addressed the relationships between power versus knowledge and liberty, analyzing how they are used as a form of social control through various institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels and sought to critique authority without limits on himself.

His thought has influenced academics within a large number of contrasting areas of study, particularly anthropology, communication studies, criminology, cultural studies, feminism, literary theory, psychology, and sociology. His efforts against homophobia, racial prejudice, and other ideological doctrines have shaped research into critical theory and Marxism–Leninism alongside other topics.

Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV and École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy under the influence of tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser. He also attended the University of Paris (Sorbonne), earning degrees in philosophy and psychology. After working abroad as a cultural diplomat, he returned to France to publish his first major book, The History of Madness (1961).

Between 1960 and 1966, while working at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he authored The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966). From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France as head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. He published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969) and was admitted to the Collège de France in 1970.

Foucault was active in left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights violations, focusing on struggles such as penal reform. He later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), developing archaeological and genealogical methods emphasizing power's role in society.

Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS. He became the first public figure in France to die from the disease, influencing mass awareness of the pandemic. His partner, Daniel Defert, founded the AIDES charity in his memory, which continues to campaign today.