الفكر ليس ما يسكن سلوكاً معيّناً ويمنحه معناه، بل هو ما يتيح للمرء أن يتراجع خطوة عن هذا الضرب من الفعل أو ردّ الفعل، فيعرضه على نفسه بوصفه موضوعاً للتفكير، ويسائل معناه وشروطه وغاياته. الفكر حرية إزاء ما نفعل، وهو الحركة التي ننفصل بها عنه، ونجعله موضوعاً، ونتأمله بوصفه مشكلة.

“Thought is not what inhabits a certain conduct and gives it its meaning; rather, it is what allows one to step back from this way of acting or reacting, to present it to oneself as an object of thought and to question it as to its meaning, its conditions, and its goals. Thought is freedom in relation to what one does, the motion by which one detaches from it, establishes it as an object, and reflects on it as a problem.”Michel Foucault