“The different pieces of evidence did not constitute so many neutral elements, until such time as they could be gathered together into a single body of evidence that would bring the final certainty of guilt. Each piece of evidence aroused a particular degree of abomination. Guilt did not begin when all the evidence was gathered together; piece by piece, it was constituted by each of the elements that made it possible to recognize a guilty person. Thus a semi-proof did not leave the suspect innocent until such time as it was completed; it made him semi-guilty; slight evidence of a serious crime marked someone as slightly criminal. In short, penal demonstration did not obey a dualistic system: true or false; but a principle of continuous gradation; a degree reached in the demonstration already formed a degree of guilt and consequently involved a degree of punishment.”

— Michel Foucault , book Discipline and Punish

Source: Discipline and Punish (1977), Chapter One, The body of the condemned, pp.23

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The different pieces of evidence did not constitute so many neutral elements, until such time as they could be gathered…" by Michel Foucault?

Michel Foucault 128

French philosopher 1926–1984

Related quotes

“So: as of 2011, after many decades of being the official and much-funded hypothesis, the Aryan Invasion Theory has still not been confirmed by even a single piece of archaeological evidence.”

Koenraad Elst (1959) orientalist, writer

2010s, Still no trace of an Aryan invasion: A collection on Indo-European origins (2019)

“A bookstore is one of the only pieces of physical evidence we have that people are still thinking.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

Variant: A bookstore is one of the many pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.

“Love is like a teacup that every day falls to the ground and breaks to pieces. In the morning the pieces are gathered and with a little moisture and a little warmth, the pieces are glued together, and again there is a little teacup. He who is in love spends life fearing that the terrible day will come when the teacup is so broken that it can no longer mended.”

Subcomandante Marcos (1957) Mexican activist

"Speaking of Love, No Love, and Other Nuisances" (23 December 1995) in Our Word Is Our Weapon

“And for one second, it was like I could feel the timing clicking together, finally pieces falling into place.”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

“I argued that it was important not to place too much reliance on any single piece of experimental evidence. It might turn out to be misleading, as the 5.1 Å reflection undoubtedly was. Jim was a little more brash, stating that no good model ever accounted for all the facts, since some data was bound to be misleading if not plain wrong. A theory that did fit all the data would have been "carpentered" to do so and would thus be open to suspicion.”

Francis Crick (1916–2004) British molecular biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist; co-discoverer of the structure of DNA

Source: What Mad Pursuit (1988), pp. 59-60

“Every relationship has a hard part at the beginning. This is our hard part. It's not like a puzzle piece where there's an instant fit. With relationships, you have to shape the pieces on each end before they go perfectly together.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

“We already have all the pieces of the puzzle. You talk about evidence. We have enough evidence to put everybody in prison for life: three hundred and some million people. We have that all the way back to November and December.”

Mike Lindell (1961) American businessman

Source: 12 January 2022 https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1481292597511475203

“If lowborn men could stand up to those born to rule, religion, government, the whole world would fall to pieces…[Merlin replies]…So it would; so it will … then the pieces will be put together again by such as destroyed it.”

John Steinbeck book The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

“Counsel are frequently induced, and they are justified in taking the most favourable view of their clients' case; and it is not fair to pass over any piece of evidence they find difficult to deal with, provided they cite, fairly and correctly, those parts of the evidence they comment upon.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon (1732–1802) British Baron

Trial of the Earl of Thanet, and others (1799), 27 How. St. Tr. 940.

“How did Tom get there? Again, a piece of time had dropped out.”

Sten Nadolny book The Discovery of Slowness

p, 125
The Discovery of Slowness (1983, 1987)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Michel Foucault 128

Related quotes

Related topics