If "Knowledge Is Power," Has "Equality" Become Exclusion?

If knowledge is discourse, as Foucault leads us to believe, and if "knowledge is power" as Sir Francis Bacon states, then, power is discourse.

So, who has the power?

Foucault describes how the order of discourse is dictated by External Procedures of Exclusion.

Exclusion.

If discourse is dictated by exclusion, then who or what is being excluded? This prompts me to consider again, "Who has the power?" Let's examine this in terms of human rights.

Lyon and Olson state that "Rhetorical inquiry into human rights discourses examines the politics of representation in establishing, maintaining, and transforming hierarchies in social, political, legal, and economic forums" (206). 

When a hierarchy is in place within society or politics, equality cannot exist. If there is no equality then how can there be equal rights?

Those who are at the top of the hierarchy hold the power because they establish the institutions, economic and social processes, systems of norms, etc. within their society. As Foucault asserts, knowledge is created through these very relations. Therefore, because these individuals maintain control over these relations, they dictate the knowledge that is created from them, and in effect hold the power. 

How can we trust those in power to establish human rights when it is the very relations which they control that have contributed to a society in which human rights violations exist. If, as Foucault states, "the notion of author constitutes the privileged moment of individualization" than we can not expect those in power to author a human rights document that is universal (904). This presents cause to consider Lyon and Olson's assertion that "the institution of slavery had different symbolic, bodily, and material ramifications for white and black people, while marriage laws have different ramifications for the sexes as well as gay and lesbian people" (206). If a hierarchy does exist, then how can we entrust the elite few to determine what the rights ought to be for everyone when implications and ramifications of human rights violations differ for so many? Individualization skews interpretation. It is inherently exclusive.

This brings me to Foucault's External Systems of Exclusion. If External Systems of Exclusion Exist as an order of discourse, and if "knowledge is created through discourse", then the hierarchal few who possess the knowledge, and therefore, the power also determine the nature of exclusion. They have the power to enact "Prohibition" and determine what is Taboo, what becomes established as Ritual, and who possesses Privilege. Prohibition as a regulation is used to limit people. What is right and what is wrong become arbitrary categories based on who is in power. Given that this is the case, it is no wonder that human rights violations occur. I do wonder though if given this information human rights, as a universal system, can ever be established. It appears that the power dynamic of political and social hierarchy, as well as Foucault's theory of External Systems of Exclusion, make it impossible for knowledge and power to be universal.

Lyon and Olson quote "Adrienne Rich's insight 'This is the oppressor's language, but I need it to speak to you' ". Rich acknowledges the privilege that has been establish which only gives her the right to speak if she speaks in the language of the oppressor. A language which has been established by the relations which are controlled by the elite. The same goes for writing. As Foucault states, writing "is an interplay of signs arranged less according to its signified content than according to the very nature of the signifier"(904-05). Therefore, it is impossible for a human rights text to be universally understood which means it cannot be universally applicable. We recognize in these instances "how the very means of communication can work against advocates' endeavors to actualize social justice."

Foucault, Lyon and Olson have complicated things for me. I want to believe that a universal system of human rights can exist. I want to believe that humans will operate in the best interest of humanity. But, if knowledge is created through a discourse which is ordered in part by systems of exclusion, I am not sure that it is possible. Where social and political hierarchy exists, equality is excluded. 

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. “What Is an Author?” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Third Edition. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. 904-914. 

Foucault, Michel. "From The Archaeology of Knowledge, From The Order Of Discourse." The Rhetorical Tradition/Readings from Classical Times to Present. Ed. Patricia Bizzel and Bruce Herzberg. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Print.

Lyon, Arabella, and Lester C. Olson. “Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and Witnessing.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 41.3 (2011): 203-212.