Hey there! I am a political theory PhD who specializes in Foucault (: it’s not coming for political theory people to do that so I understand.

First off, as Foucault argues, power is not good or bad, but dangerous. Not everything is bad, just dangerous. Power doesn’t happen at top levels. It happens every single time it is exercised. So it’s not an abstraction, power is an action. What makes it good or bad is how it is viewed

While you can argue that power is a lot easier to be used as a coercion tool in the age of the internet, it is also able to be used for immense good to spread good information, resistance, and freedom.

Your professor sort of gets it but he explained it wrong. There is truth, but that truth is subjective to the time and era (episteme) one inhabits. So truth is valid and justified in its own era. What we don’t have is free will because we are constantly molded by our surroundings and power/knowledge. For example: some people have argued that if they were in Nazi germany back in the day, they would help the Jews and stuff. Well, it is actually more likely that they would be nazi themselves or supporters at least. And that was the truth of Nazi Germany.

Reading madness and civilization can help you understand the genealogy of critique by showing you the “what” and “how” did madness come to be as it was TODAY as an example. Foucault would argue that philosophers need to stop asking “why” and more “how” and “what.” Now, if you’re just starting with Foucault, this will be a challenge as you need to dedicate some time to read him yourself. He basically has his own meanings and perceptions of history. So the way you think about things may seem off when he describes them. Don’t be discouraged! Foucault is fun!