AUTHORSHIP IN QUESTION: FOUCALT´S NOTIONS OF AUTHORSHIP, DISCOURSE, SUBJECT, AND POWER

Abstract

What is an author? This question was raised in 1969 by Michel Foucault and still remains without a clear answer. The new transformations in the author-function operations, which are mainly promoted by the internet and the digital media, seem to put the question concerning the status of authorship even more in the spotlight. After all, what still remains from the modern figure of the author? In an attempt to contribute to new investigations on this domain, I propose here that we look back at Foucault’s remarks in order to establish some important guidelines and sketch a broader and richer framework in which the question about authorship can be set. This framework articulates three capital topics in philosophical tradition: discourse, subject, and power.