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Panopticon: The Ever Watchful Eye By Archie R. Magarao Michel Foucault, a French social philosopher, is one of the key philosophers of the modern time. His critical philosophy is so wide-ranging that it includes psychology, sociology, jurisprudence, ethics, politics, philosophy, history, and natural sciences. No wonder why his thoughts are much talked about in the academe. In this very brief philosophical reflection on Foucault, allow me to introduce to you one of his key concepts namely the panopticon. Although the philosopher Jeremy Bentham generally coined the term, it was Foucault who took the matter seriously. Foucault argues that modern society is similar to penal colonies. What makes this resemblance possible is the existence of the ubiquitous and ever watchful faceless panopticon. The term panopticon is of Greek origin which simply means all-seeing. Technically, it is the prison’s central tower where the guards stay and watch over the