[Ethics and social medicine: Michel Foucault's perspective]

Michel Foucault's preoccupation with medicine, its history and its impact on society, is a constant in his work. The goal of this study is to contrast the content of the lectures Foucault gave in Rio de Janeiro, in October 1974, with the preparatory notes for them which are part of the archival holdings acquired by the National Library of France. One of the key questions in those lectures is the relationship between ethics and contemporary social medicine. This question, analyzed from Foucault's point of view, constitutes the background and ultimate interest of this article.