From: Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (London:

Routledge, 2004; frst pub 1!2; translated b" #M $heridan $mith%

INTRODUCTION
For man" "ears no& historians ha'e pre(erred to turn their
attention to long periods, as i(, beneath the shi(ts and changes o(
political e'ents, the" &ere tr"ing to re'eal the stable, almost
indestructible s"stem o( chec)s and balances, the irre'ersible processes,
the constant read*ustments, the underl"ing tendencies that gather (orce,
and are then suddenl" re'ersed a(ter centuries o( continuit", the
mo'ements o( accumulation and slo& saturation, the great silent,
motionless bases that traditional histor" has co'ered &ith a thic) la"er
o( e'ents+ ,he tools that enable historians to carr" out this &or) o(
anal"sis are partl" inherited and partl" o( their o&n ma)ing: models o(
economic gro&th, -uantitati'e anal"sis o( mar)et mo'ements, accounts
o( demographic e.pansion and contraction, the stud" o( climate and its
long/term changes, the f.ing o( sociological constants, the description o(
technological ad*ustments and o( their spread and continuit"+ ,hese tools
ha'e enabled &or)ers in the historical feld to distinguish 'arious
sedimentar" strata; linear successions, &hich (or so long had been the
ob*ect o( research, ha'e gi'en &a" to disco'eries in depth+ From the
political mobilit" at the sur(ace do&n to the slo& mo'ements o(
0
material
ci'ili1ation
0
, e'er more le'els o( anal"sis ha'e been established: each has
its o&n peculiar discontinuities and patterns; and as one descends to the
deepest le'els, the rh"thms become broader+ 2eneath the rapidl"
changing histor" o( go'ernments, &ars, and (amines, there emerge
other, apparentl" unmo'ing histories: the histor" o( sea routes, the
histor" o( corn or o( gold/mining, the histor" o( drought and o( irrigation,
the histor" o( crop rotation, the histor" o( the balance achie'ed b" the
human species bet&een hunger and abundance+ ,he old -uestions o( the
traditional anal"sis (3hat lin) should be made bet&een disparate
e'ents4 5o& can a causal succession be established bet&een them4
3hat continuit" or o'erall signifcance do the" possess4 6s it possible to
1
defne a totalit", or must one be content &ith reconstituting conne.ions4%
are no& being replaced b" -uestions o( another t"pe: &hich strata
should be isolated (rom others4 3hat t"pes o( series should be
established4 3hat criteria o( periodi1ation should be adopted (or each o(
them4 3hat s"stem o( relations (hierarch", dominance, stratifcation,
uni'ocal determination, circular causalit"% ma" be established bet&een
them4 3hat series o( series ma" be established4 #nd in &hat large/scale
chronological table ma" distinct series o( e'ents be determined4
#t about the same time, in the disciplines that &e call the histor"
o( ideas, the histor" o( science, the histor" o( philosoph", the histor" o(
thought, and the histor" o( literature (&e can ignore their specifcit" (or
the moment%, in those disciplines &hich, despite their names, e'ade 'er"
largel" the &or) and methods o( the historian, attention has been
turned, on the contrar", a&a" (rom 'ast unities li)e
0
periods
0
or
0centuries
0
to the phenomena o( rupture, o( discontinuit"+ 2eneath the
great continuities o( thought, beneath the solid, homogeneous mani/
(estations o( a single mind or o( a collecti'e mentalit", beneath the
stubborn de'elopment o( a science stri'ing to e.ist and to reach com/
pletion at the 'er" outset, beneath the persistence o( a particular genre,
(orm, discipline, or theoretical acti'it", one is no& tr"ing to detect the
incidence o( interruptions+ 6nterruptions &hose status and nature 'ar"
considerabl"+ ,here are the epistemological acts and thresholds
described b" 2achelard: the" suspend the continuous accumulation o(
)no&ledge, interrupt its slo& de'elopment, and (orce it to enter a ne&
time, cut it o7 (rom its empirical origin and its original moti'ations,
cleanse it o( its imaginar" complicities; the" direct historical anal"sis
a&a" (rom the search (or silent beginnings, and the ne'er/ending
tracing/bac) to the original precursors, to&ards the search (or a ne&
t"pe o( rationalit" and its 'arious e7ects+ ,here are the displacements
and trans(ormations o( concepts: the anal"ses o( 8+ 9anguilhem ma"
ser'e as models; the" sho& that the histor" o( a concept is not &holl"
and entirel" that o( its progressi'e refnement, its continuousl"
increasing rationalit", its abstraction gradient, but that o( its 'arious
2
felds o( constitution and 'alidit", that o( its successi'e rules o( use, that
o( the man" theoretical conte.ts in &hich it de'eloped and matured+
,here is the distinction, &hich &e also o&e to 9anguilhem, bet&een the
microscopic and macroscopic scales o( the histor" o( the sciences, in
&hich e'ents and their conse-uences are not arranged in the same &a":
thus a disco'er", the de'elopment o( a method, the achie'ements, and
the (ailures, o( a particular scientist, do not ha'e the same incidence,
and cannot be described in the same &a" at both le'els; on each o( the
t&o le'els, a di7erent histor" is being &ritten+ Recurrent redistributions
re'eal se'eral pasts, se'eral (orms o( conne.ion, se'eral hierarchies o(
importance, se'eral net&or)s o( determination, se'eral teleologies, (or
one and the same science, as its present undergoes change: thus
historical descriptions are necessaril" ordered b" the present state o(
)no&ledge, the" increase &ith e'er" trans(ormation and ne'er cease, in
turn, to brea) &ith themsel'es (in the feld o( mathematics, M+ $erres
has pro'ided the theor" o( this phenomenon%+ ,here are the
architectonic unities o( s"stems o( the )ind anal"sed b" M+ 8ueroult,
&hich are concerned not &ith the description o( cultural in:uences,
traditions, and continuities, but &ith internal coherences, a.ioms,
deducti'e conne.ions, compatibilities+ Lastl", the most radical
discontinuities are the brea)s e7ected b" a &or) o( theoretical
trans(ormation 0&hich establishes a science b" detaching it (rom the
ideolog" o( its past and b" re'ealing this past as ideological
0
+
0
,o this
should be added, o( course, literar" anal"sis, &hich no& ta)es as its
unit", not the spirit or sensibilit" o( a period, nor
0
groups
0
,
0
schools
0
,
0
generations
0
, or
0
mo'ements
0
, nor e'en the personalit" o( the author, in
the interpla" o( his li(e and his
0
creation
0
, but the particular structure o(
a gi'en oeu're, boo), or te.t+
#nd the great problem presented b" such historical anal"ses is not
ho& continuities are established, ho& a single pattern is (ormed and
preser'ed, ho& (or so man" di7erent, successi'e minds there is a single
hori1on, &hat mode o( action and &hat substructure is implied b" the
3
interpla" o( transmissions, resumptions, disappearances, and repeti/
tions, ho& the origin ma" e.tend its s&a" &ell be"ond itsel( to that
conclusion that is ne'er gi'en ; the problem is no longer one o(
tradition, o( tracing a line, but one o( di'ision, o( limits; it is no longer
one o( lasting (oundations, but one o( trans(ormations that ser'e as ne&
(oundations, the rebuilding o( (oundations+ 3hat one is seeing, then, is
the emergence o( a &hole feld o( -uestions, some o( &hich are alread"
(amiliar, b" &hich this ne& (orm o( histor" is tr"ing to de'elop its o&n
theor": ho& is one to speci(" the di7erent concepts that enable us to
concei'e o( discontinuit" (threshold, rupture, brea), mutation,
trans(ormation% 4 2" &hat criteria is one to isolate the unities &ith &hich
one is dealing; &hat is a science4 3hat is an oeu're4 3hat is a theor"4
3hat is a concept4 3hat is a te.t4 5o& is one to di'ersi(" the le'els at
&hich one ma" place onesel(, each o( &hich possesses its o&n di'isions
and (orm o( anal"sis4 3hat is the legitimate le'el o( (ormali1ation4 3hat
is that o( interpretation4 <( structural anal"sis4 <( attributions o(
causalit"+
6n short, the histor" o( thought, o( )no&ledge, o( philosoph", o(
literature seems to be see)ing, and disco'ering, more and more
discontinuities, &hereas histor" itsel( appears to be abandoning the
irruption o( e'ents in (a'our o( stable structures+
2ut &e must not be ta)en in b" this apparent interchange+ =espite
appearances, &e must not imagine that certain o( the historical discip/
lines ha'e mo'ed (rom the continuous to the discontinuous, &hile others
ha'e mo'ed (rom the tangled mass o( discontinuities to the great,
uninterrupted unities; &e must not imagine that in the anal"sis o(
politics, institutions, or economics, &e ha'e become more and more
sensiti'e to o'erall determinations, &hile in the anal"sis o( ideas and o(
)no&ledge, &e are pa"ing more and more attention to the pla" o(
di7erence; &e must not imagine that these t&o great (orms o(
description ha'e crossed &ithout recogni1ing one another+
6n (act, the same problems are being posed in either case, but the"
ha'e pro'o)ed opposite e7ects on the sur(ace+ ,hese problems ma" be
4
summed up in a &ord: the -uestioning o( the document+ <( course, it is
ob'ious enough that e'er since a discipline such as histor" has e.isted,
documents ha'e been used, -uestioned, and ha'e gi'en rise to -ues/
tions; scholars ha'e as)ed not onl" &hat these documents meant, but
also &hether the" &ere telling the truth, and b" &hat right the" could
claim to be doing so, &hether the" &ere sincere or deliberatel" mis/
leading, &ell in(ormed or ignorant, authentic or tampered &ith+ 2ut each
o( these -uestions, and all this critical concern, pointed to one and the
same end: the reconstitution, on the basis o( &hat the documents sa",
and sometimes merel" hint at, o( the past (rom &hich the" emanate and
&hich has no& disappeared (ar behind them; the document &as al&a"s
treated as the language o( a 'oice since reduced to silence, its (ragile,
but possibl" decipherable trace+ >o&, through a mutation that is not o(
'er" recent origin, but &hich has still not come to an end, histor" has
altered its position in relation to the document: it has ta)en as its
primar" tas), not the interpretation o( the document, nor the attempt to
decide &hether it is telling the truth or &hat is its e.pressi'e 'alue, but
to &or) on it (rom &ithin and to de'elop it: histor" no& organi1es the
document, di'ides it up, distributes it, orders it, arranges it in le'els,
establishes series, distinguishes bet&een &hat is rele'ant and &hat is
not, disco'ers elements, defnes unities, describes relations+ ,he
document, then, is no longer (or histor" an inert material through &hich
it tries to reconstitute &hat men ha'e done or said, the e'ents o( &hich
onl" the trace remains; histor" is no& tr"ing to defne &ithin the
documentar" material itsel( unities, totalities, series, relations+ 5istor"
must be detached (rom the image that satisfed it (or so long, and
through &hich it (ound its anthropological *ustifcation: that o( an age/
old collecti'e consciousness that made use o( material documents to
re(resh its memor"; histor" is the &or) e.pended on material docu/
mentation (boo)s, te.ts, accounts, registers, acts, buildings, institutions,
la&s, techni-ues, ob*ects, customs, etc+% that e.ists, in e'er" time and
place, in e'er" societ", either in a spontaneous or in a consciousl"
organi1ed (orm+ ,he document is not the (ortunate tool o( a histor" that
5
is primaril" and (undamentall" memor"; histor" is one &a" in &hich a
societ" recogni1es and de'elops a mass o( documentation &ith &hich it
is ine.tricabl" lin)ed+
,o be brie(, then, let us sa" that histor", in its traditional (orm,
undertoo) to
0
memori1e
0
the monuments o( the past, trans(orm them into
documents, and lend speech to those traces &hich, in themsel'es, are
o(ten not 'erbal, or &hich sa" in silence something other than &hat the"
actuall" sa"; in our time, histor" is that &hich trans(orms documents into
monuments+ 6n that area &here, in the past, histor" deciphered the
traces le(t b" men, it no& deplo"s a mass o( elements that ha'e to be
grouped, made rele'ant, placed in relation to one another to (orm
totalities+ ,here &as a time &hen archaeolog", as a discipline de'oted to
silent monuments, inert traces, ob*ects &ithout conte.t, and things le(t
b" the past, aspired to the condition o( histor", and attained meaning
onl" through the restitution o( a historical discourse; it might be said, to
pla" on &ords a little, that in our time histor" aspires to the condition o(
archaeolog", to the intrinsic description o( the monument+
,his has se'eral conse-uences+ First o( all, there is the sur(ace
e7ect alread" mentioned: the proli(eration o( discontinuities in the
histor" o( ideas, and the emergence o( long periods in histor" proper+ 6n
(act, in its traditional (orm, histor" proper &as concerned to defne
relations (o( simple causalit", o( circular determination, o( antagonism,
o( e.pression% bet&een (acts or dated e'ents: the series being )no&n, it
&as simpl" a -uestion o( defning the position o( each element in relation
to the other elements in the series+ ,he problem no& is to constitute
series: to defne the elements proper to each series, to f. its boundaries,
to re'eal its o&n specifc t"pe o( relations, to (ormulate its la&s, and,
be"ond this, to describe the relations bet&een di7erent series, thus
constituting series o( series, or
?
tables
0
: hence the e'er/increasing
number o( strata, and the need to distinguish them, the specifcit" o(
their time and chronologies; hence the need to distinguish not onl"
important e'ents (&ith a long chain o( conse-uences% and less important
ones, but t"pes o( e'ents at -uite di7erent le'els (some 'er" brie(, others
6
o( a'erage duration, li)e the de'elopment o( a particular techni-ue, or a
scarcit" o( mone", and others o( a long/term nature, li)e a demographic
e-uilibrium or the gradual ad*ustment o( an econom" to climatic
change%; hence the possibilit" o( re'ealing series &ith &idel" spaced
inter'als (ormed b" rare or repetiti'e e'ents+ ,he appearance o( long
periods in the histor" o( toda" is not a return to the philosophers o(
histor", to the great ages o( the &orld, or to the periodi1ation dictated b"
the rise and (all o( ci'ili1ations; it is the e7ect o( the methodologicall"
concerted de'elopment o( series+ 6n the histor" o( ideas, o( thought and
o( the sciences, the same mutation has brought about the opposite
e7ect; it has bro)en up the long series (ormed b" the progress o(
consciousness, or the teleolog" o( reason, or the e'olution o( human
thought; it has -uestioned the themes o( con'ergence and culmination; it
has doubted the possibilit" o( creating totalities+ 6t has led to the
indi'iduali1ation o( di7erent series, &hich are *u.taposed to one another,
(ollo& one another, o'erlap and intersect, &ithout one being able to
reduce them to a liner schema+ ,hus, in place o( the continuous
chronolog" o( reason, &hich &as in'ariabl" traced bac) to some
inaccessible origin, there ha'e appeared scales that are sometimes 'er"
brie(, distinct (rom one another, irreducible to a single la&, scales that
bear a t"pe o( histor" peculiar to each one, and &hich cannot be reduced
to the general model o( a consciousness that ac-uires, progresses, and
remembers+
$econd conse-uence: the notion o( discontinuit" assumes a ma*or
role in the historical disciplines+ For histor" in its classical (orm, the
discontinuous &as both the gi'en and the unthin)able: the ra& material
o( histor", &hich presented itsel( in the (orm o( dispersed e'ents ;
decisions, accidents, initiati'es, disco'eries; the material, &hich,
through anal"sis, had to be rearranged, reduced, e7aced in order to
re'eal the continuit" o( e'ents+ =iscontinuit" &as the stigma o( temporal
dislocation that it &as the historian
0
s tas) to remo'e (rom histor"+ 6t has
no& become one o( the basic elements o( historical anal"sis+ 6ts role is
three(old+ First, it constitutes a deliberate operation on the part o( the
7
historian (and not a -ualit" o( the material &ith &hich he has to deal%:
(or the must, at least as a s"stematic h"pothesis, distinguish the possible
le'els o( anal"sis, the methods proper to each, and the periodi1ation that
best suits them+ $econdl", it is the result o( his description (and not
something that must be eliminated b" means o( his anal"sis% : (or he is
tr"ing to disco'er the limits o( a process, the point o( in:e.ion o( a
cur'e, the in'ersion o( a regulator" mo'ement, the boundaries o( an
oscillation, the threshold o( a (unction, the instant at &hich a circular
causalit" brea)s do&n+ ,hirdl", it is the concept that the historian
0
s &or)
ne'er ceases to speci(" (instead o( neglecting it as a uni(orm, indi7erent
blan) bet&een t&o positi'e fgures% ; it assumes a specifc (orm and
(unction according to the feld and the le'el to &hich it is assigned: one
does not spea) o( the same discontinuit" &hen describing an
epistemological threshold, the point o( re:e.ion in a population cur'e, or
the replacement o( one techni-ue b" another+ ,he notion o( discontinuit"
is a parado.ical one: because it is both an instrument and an ob*ect o(
research; because it di'ides up the feld o( &hich it is the e7ect; because
it enables the historian to indi'iduali1e di7erent domains but can be
established onl" b" comparing those domains+ #nd because, in the fnal
anal"sis, perhaps, it is not simpl" a concept present in the discourse o(
the historian, but something that the historian secretl" supposes to be
present: on &hat basis, in (act, could he spea) &ithout this discontinuit"
that o7ers him histor" ; and his o&n histor" ; as an ob*ect4 <ne o( the
most essential (eatures o( the ne& histor" is probabl" this displacement
o( the discontinuous: its trans(erence (rom the obstacle to the &or)
itsel(; its integration into the discourse o( the historian, &here it no
longer pla"s the role o( an e.ternal condition that must be reduced, but
that o( a &or)ing concept; and there(ore the in'ersion o( signs b" &hich
it is no longer the negati'e o( the historical reading (its underside, its
(ailure, the limit o( its po&er%, but the positi'e element that determines
its ob*ect and 'alidates its anal"sis+
,hird conse-uence: the theme and the possibilit" o( a total histor"
begin to disappear, and &e see the emergence o( something 'er" di(/
8
(erent that might be called a general histor"+ ,he pro*ect o( a total
histor" is one that see)s to reconstitute the o'erall (orm o( a ci'ili1ation,
the principle ; material or spiritual ; o( a societ", the signifcance com/
mon to all the phenomena o( a period, the la& that accounts (or their
cohesion ; &hat is called metaphoricall" the
?
(ace
0
o( a period+ $uch a
pro*ect is lin)ed to t&o or three h"potheses; it is supposed that bet&een
all the e'ents o( a &ell/defned spatio/temporal area, bet&een all the
phenomena o( &hich traces ha'e been (ound, it must be possible to
establish a s"stem o( homogeneous relations: a net&or) o( causalit" that
ma)es it possible to deri'e each o( them, relations o( analog" that sho&
ho& the" s"mboli1e one another, or ho& the" all e.press one and the
same central core; it is also supposed that one and the same (orm o(
historicit" operates upon economic structures, social institutions and
customs, the inertia o( mental attitudes, technological practice, political
beha'iour, and sub*ects them all to the same t"pe o( trans(ormation;
lastl", it is supposed that histor" itsel( ma" be articulated into great units
; stages or phases ; &hich contain &ithin themsel'es their o&n
principle o( cohesion+ ,hese are the postulates that are challenged b"
the ne& histor" &hen it spea)s o( series, di'isions, limits, di7erences o(
le'el, shi(ts, chronological specifcities, particular (orms o( rehandling,
possible t"pes o( relation+ ,his is not because it is tr"ing to obtain a
pluralit" o( histories *u.taposed and independent o( one another: that o(
the econom" beside that o( institutions, and beside these t&o those o(
science, religion, or literature; nor is it because it is merel" tr"ing to
disco'er bet&een these di7erent histories coincidences o( dates, or
analogies o( (orm and meaning+ ,he problem that no& presents itsel( ;
and &hich defnes the tas) o( a general histor" ; is to determine &hat
(orm o( relation ma" be legitimatel" described bet&een these di7erent
series; &hat 'ertical s"stem the" are capable o( (orming; &hat interpla"
o( correlation and dominance e.ists bet&een them; &hat ma" be the
e7ect o( shi(ts, di7erent temporalities, and 'arious rehandlings; in &hat
distinct totalities certain elements ma" fgure simultaneousl"; in short,
not onl" &hat series, but also &hat
0
series o( series
0
; or, in other &ords,
9
&hat
0
tables
0
it is possible to dra& up+ # total description dra&s all
phenomena around a single centre ; a principle, a meaning, a spirit, a
&orld/'ie&, an o'erall shape; a general histor", on the contrar", &ould
deplo" the space o( a dispersion+
Fourth and last conse-uence: the ne& histor" is con(ronted b" a
number o( methodological problems, se'eral o( &hich, no doubt, e.isted
long be(ore the emergence o( the ne& histor", but &hich, ta)en together,
characteri1e it+ ,hese include: the building/up o( coherent and
homogeneous corpora o( documents (open or closed, e.hausted or
ine.haustible corpora%, the establishment o( a principle o( choice
(according to &hether one &ishes to treat the documentation e.haust/
i'el", or adopt a sampling method as in statistics, or tr" to determine in
ad'ance &hich are the most representati'e elements% ; the defnition o(
the le'el o( anal"sis and o( the rele'ant elements (in the material stud/
ied, one ma" e.tract numerical indications; re(erences ; e.plicit or not
; to e'ents, institutions, practices; the &ords used, &ith their grammat/
ical rules and the semantic felds that the" indicate, or again the (ormal
structure o( the propositions and the t"pes o( conne.ion that unite
them%; the specifcation o( a method o( anal"sis (the -uantitati'e
treatment o( data, the brea)ing/do&n o( the material according to a
number o( assignable (eatures &hose correlations are then studied,
interpretati'e decipherment, anal"sis o( (re-uenc" and distribution%; the
delimitation o( groups and sub/groups that articulate the material
(regions, periods, unitar" processes% ; the determination o( relations that
ma)e it possible to characteri1e a group (these ma" be numerical or
logical relations; (unctional, causal, or analogical relations; or it ma" be
the relation o( the 0signifer0 (signifant% to the 0signifed0 (signife%+
#ll these problems are no& part o( the methodological feld o(
histor"+ ,his feld deser'es attention, and (or t&o reasons+ First, because
one can see to &hat e.tent it has (reed itsel( (rom &hat constituted, not
so long ago, the philosoph" o( histor", and (rom the -uestions that it
posed (on the rationalit" or teleolog" o( historical de'elopment (devenir%,
on the relati'it" o( historical )no&ledge, and on the possibilit" o(
10
disco'ering or constituting a meaning in the inertia o( the past and in
the unfnished totalit" o( the present%+ $econdl", because it intersects at
certain points problems that are met &ith in other felds ; in linguistics,
ethnolog", economics, literar" anal"sis, and m"tholog", (or e.ample+
,hese problems ma", i( one so &ishes, be labelled structuralism+ 2ut onl"
under certain conditions: the" do not, o( themsel'es, co'er the entire
methodological feld o( histor", the" occup" onl" one part o( that feld ;
a part that 'aries in importance &ith the area and le'el o( anal"sis; apart
(rom a number o( relati'el" limited cases, the" ha'e not been imported
(rom linguistics or ethnolog" (as is o(ten the case toda"%, but the"
originated in the feld o( histor" itsel( ; more particularl", in that o(
economic histor" and as a result o( the -uestions posed b" that
discipline; lastl", in no &a" do the" authori1e us to spea) o( a
structuralism o( histor", or at least o( an attempt to o'ercome a
0
con:ict
0
or
0
opposition
0
bet&een structure and historical de'elopment: it is a long
time no& since historians unco'ered, described, and anal"sed
structures, &ithout e'er ha'ing occasion to &onder &hether the" &ere
not allo&ing the li'ing, (ragile, pulsating
0
histor"
0
to slip through their
fngers+ ,he structure@de'elopment opposition is rele'ant neither to the
defnition o( the historical feld, nor, in all probabilit", to the defnition o(
a structural method+
,his epistemological mutation o( histor" is not "et complete+ 2ut it
is not o( recent origin either, since its frst phase can no doubt be traced
bac) to Mar.+ 2ut it too) a long time to ha'e much e7ect+ A'en no& ;
and this is especiall" true in the case o( the histor" o( thought ; it has
been neither registered nor re:ected upon, &hile other, more recent
trans(ormations ; those o( linguistics, (or e.ample ; ha'e been+ 6t is as
i( it &as particularl" di7icult, in the histor" in &hich men retrace their
o&n ideas and their o&n )no&ledge, to (ormulate a general theor" o(
discontinuit", o( series, o( limits, unities, specifc orders, and di7eren/
tiated autonomies and dependences+ #s i(, in that feld &here &e had
become used to see)ing origins, to pushing bac) (urther and (urther the
11
line o( antecedents, to reconstituting traditions, to (ollo&ing e'oluti'e
cur'es, to pro*ecting teleologies, and to ha'ing constant recourse to
metaphors o( li(e, &e (elt a particular repugnance to concei'ing o(
di7erence, to describing separations and dispersions, to dissociating the
reassuring (orm o( the identical+ <r, to be more precise, as i( &e (ound it
di7icult to construct a theor", to dra& general conclusions, and e'en to
deri'e all the possible implications o( these concepts o( thresholds,
mutations, independent s"stems, and limited series ; in the &a" in
&hich the" had been used in (act b" historians+ #s i( &e &ere a(raid to
concei'e o( the <ther in the time o( our o&n thought+
,here is a reason (or this+ 6( the histor" o( thought could remain
the locus o( uninterrupted continuities, i( it could endlessl" (orge con/
ne.ions that no anal"sis could undo &ithout abstraction, i( it could
&ea'e, around e'er"thing that men sa" and do, obscure s"nthesis that
anticipate (or him, prepare him, and lead him endlessl" to&ards his
(uture, it &ould pro'ide a pri'ileged shelter (or the so'ereignt" o(
consciousness+ 9ontinuous histor" is the indispensable correlati'e o( the
(ounding (unction o( the sub*ect: the guarantee that e'er"thing that has
eluded him ma" be restored to him; the certaint" that time &ill disperse
nothing &ithout restoring it in a reconstituted unit"; the promise that
one da" the sub*ect ; in the (orm o( historical consciousness ; &ill once
again be able to appropriate, to bring bac) under his s&a", all those
things that are )ept at a distance b" di7erence, and fnd in them &hat
might be called his abode+ Ma)ing historical anal"sis the discourse o(
the continuous and ma)ing human consciousness the original sub*ect o(
all historical de'elopment and all action are the t&o sides o( the same
s"stem o( thought+ 6n this s"stem, time is concei'ed in terms o(
totali1ation and re'olutions are ne'er more than moments o(
consciousness+
6n 'arious (orms, this theme has pla"ed a constant role since the
nineteenth centur": to preser'e, against all decentrings, the so'ereignt"
o( the sub*ect, and the t&in fgures o( anthropolog" and humanism+
#gainst the decentring operated b" Mar. ; b" the historical anal"sis o(
12
the relations o( production, economic determinations, and the class
struggle ; it ga'e place, to&ards the end o( the nineteenth centur", to
the search (or a total histor", in &hich all the di7erences o( a societ"
might be reduced to a single (orm, to the organi1ation o( a &orld/'ie&, to
the establishment o( a s"stem o( 'alues, to a coherent t"pe o( ci'ili1ation+
,o the decentring operated b" the >iet1schean genealog", it opposed the
search (or an original (oundation that &ould ma)e rationalit" the telos o(
man)ind, and lin) the &hole histor" o( thought to the preser'ation o(
this rationalit", to the maintenance o( this teleolog", and to the e'er
necessar" return to this (oundation+ Lastl", more recentl", &hen the
researches o( ps"choanal"sis, linguistics, and ethnolog" ha'e decentred
the sub*ect in relation to the la&s o( his desire, the (orms o( his
language, the rules o( his action, or the games o( his m"thical or
(abulous discourse, &hen it became clear that man himsel(, -uestioned
as to &hat he &as, could not account (or his se.ualit" and his
unconscious, the s"stematic (orms o( his language, or the regularities o(
his fctions, the theme o( a continuit" o( histor" has been reacti'ated
once again; a histor" that &ould be not di'ision, but de'elopment
(devenir%; not an interpla" o( relations, but an internal d"namic; not a
s"stem, but the hard &or) o( (reedom; not (orm, but the unceasing e7ort
o( a consciousness turned upon itsel(, tr"ing to grasp itsel( in its deepest
conditions: a histor" that &ould be both an act o( long, uninterrupted
patience and the 'i'acit" o( a mo'ement, &hich, in the end, brea)s all
bounds+ 6( one is to assert this theme, &hich, to the 0immobilit"
0
o(
structures, to their 0closed
0
s"stem, to their necessar" 0s"nchron"
0
,
opposes the li'ing openness o( histor", one must ob'iousl" den" in the
historical anal"ses themsel'es the use o( discontinuit", the defnition o(
le'els and limits, the description o( specifc series, the unco'ering o( the
&hole interpla" o( di7erences+ <ne is led there/(ore to anthropologi1e
Mar., to ma)e o( him a historian o( totalities, and to redisco'er in him
the message o( humanism; one is led there(ore to interpret >iet1sche in
the terms o( transcendental philosoph", and to reduce his genealog" to
the le'el o( a search (or origins; lastl", one is led to lea'e to one side, as
13
i( it had ne'er arisen, that &hole feld o( methodological problems that
the ne& histor" is no& presenting+ For, i( it is asserted that the -uestion
o( discontinuities, s"stems and trans/(ormations, series and thresholds,
arises in all the historical disciplines (and in those concerned &ith ideas
or the sciences no less than those concerned &ith economics and
societ"%, ho& could one oppose &ith an" semblance o( legitimac"
0
de'elopment
0
and
0
s"stem
0
, mo'ement and circular regulations, or, as it
is sometimes put crudel" and unthin)ingl",
0
histor"
0
and
0
structure
0
4
,he same conser'ati'e (unction is at &or) in the theme o( cultural
totalities ((or &hich Mar. has been critici1ed, then tra'estied%, in the
theme o( a search (or origins (&hich &as opposed to >iet1sche, be(ore
an attempt &as made to transpose him into it%, and in the theme o( a
li'ing, continuous, open histor"+ ,he cr" goes up that one is murdering
histor" &hene'er, in a historical anal"sis ; and especiall" i( it is
concerned &ith thought, ideas, or )no&ledge ; one is seen to be using
in too ob'ious a &a" the categories o( discontinuit" and di7erence, the
notions o( threshold, rupture and trans(ormation, the description o(
series and limits+ <ne &ill be denounced (or attac)ing the inalienable
rights o( histor" and the 'er" (oundations o( an" possible historicit"+ 2ut
one must not be decei'ed: &hat is being be&ailed &ith such 'ehemence
is not the disappearance o( histor", but the eclipse o( that (orm o( histor"
that &as secretl", but entirel" related to the s"nthetic acti'it" o( the
sub*ect; &hat is being be&ailed is the
0
de'elopment
0
(devenir% that &as
to pro'ide the so'ereignt" o( the consciousness &ith a sa(er, less
e.posed shelter than m"ths, )inship s"stems, languages, se.ualit", or
desire; &hat is being be&ailed is the possibilit" o( reanimating through
the pro*ect, the &or) o( meaning, or the mo'ement o( totali1ation, the
interpla" o( material determinations, rules o( practice, unconscious
s"stems, rigorous but unre:ected relations, correlations that elude all
li'ed e.perience; &hat is being be&ailed, is that ideological use o(
histor" b" &hich one tries to restore to man e'er"/thing that has
unceasingl" eluded him (or o'er a hundred "ears+ #ll the treasure o(
14
b"gone da"s &as crammed into the old citadel o( this histor"; it &as
thought to be secure; it &as sacrali1ed; it &as made the last resting/
place o( anthropological thought; it &as e'en thought that its most
in'eterate enemies could be captured and turned into 'igilant guardians+
2ut the historians had long ago deserted the old (ortress and gone to
&or) else&here; it &as reali1ed that neither Mar. nor >iet1sche &ere
carr"ing out the guard duties that had been entrusted to them+ ,he"
could not be depended on to preser'e pri'ilege; nor to a7irm once and
(or all ; and 8od )no&s it is needed in the distress o( toda" ; that
histor", at least, is li'ing and continuous, that it is, (or the sub*ect in
-uestion, a place o( rest, certaint", reconciliation, a place o( tran-uilli1ed
sleep+
#t this point there emerges an enterprise o( &hich m" earlier
boo)s Histoire de la folie (Madness and Civilization%, Naissance de la
clinique (The Birth of the Clinic%, and Les Mots et les choses (The rder
of Things% &ere a 'er" imper(ect s)etch+ #n enterprise b" &hich one
tries to measure the mutations that operate in general in the feld o(
histor"; an enterprise in &hich the methods, limits, and themes proper to
the histor" o( ideas are -uestioned; an enterprise b" &hich one tries to
thro& o7 the last anthropological constraints; an enterprise that &ishes,
in return, to re'eal ho& these constraints could come about+ ,hese tas)s
&ere outlined in a rather disordered &a", and their general articulation
&as ne'er clearl" defned+ 6t &as time that the" &ere gi'en greater
coherence ; or, at least, that an attempt &as made to do so+ ,his boo) is
the result+
6n order to a'oid misunderstanding, 6 should li)e to begin &ith a
(e& obser'ations+
;M" aim is not to trans(er to the feld o( histor", and more par/
ticularl" to the histor" o( )no&ledge (connaissances% (1%, a structuralist
method that has pro'ed 'aluable in other felds o( anal"sis+ M" aim is to
unco'er the principles and conse-uences o( an autochthonous trans/
(ormation that is ta)ing place in the feld o( historical )no&ledge+ 6t ma"
&ell be that this trans(ormation, the problems that it raises, the tools
15
that it uses, the concepts that emerge (rom it, and the results that it
obtains are not entirel" (oreign to &hat is called structural anal"sis+ 2ut
this )ind o( anal"sis is not specifcall" used;
;m" aim is most decidedl" not to use the categories o( cultural
totalities (&hether &orld/'ie&s, ideal t"pes, the particular spirit o( an
age% in order to impose on histor", despite itsel(, the (orms o( structural
anal"sis+ ,he series described, the limits f.ed, the comparisons and
correlations made are based not on the old philosophies o( histor", but
are intended to -uestion teleologien and totali1ations;
;in so (ar as m" aim is to defne a method o( historical anal"sis
(reed (rom the anthropological theme, it is clear that the theor" that 6 am
about to outline has a dual relation &ith the pre'ious studies+ 6t is an
attempt to (ormulate, in general terms (and not &ithout a great deal o(
rectifcation and elaboration%, the tools that these studies ha'e used or
(orged (or themsel'es in the course o( their &or)+ 2ut, on the other hand,
it uses the results alread" obtained to defne a method o( anal"sis purged
o( all anthropologism+ ,he ground on &hich it rests is the one that it has
itsel( disco'ered+ ,he studies o( madness and the beginnings o(
ps"cholog", o( illness and the beginnings o( a clinical medicine, o( the
sciences o( li(e, language, and economics &ere attempts that &ere
carried out, to some e.tent, in the dar): but the" graduall" became clear,
not onl" because little b" little their method became more precise, but
also because the" disco'ered ; in this debate on humanism and
anthropolog" ; the point o( its historical possibilit"+
6n short, this boo), li)e those that preceded it, does not belong ;
at least directl", or in the frst instance ; to the debate on structure (as
opposed to genesis, histor", de'elopment%; it belongs to that feld in
&hich the -uestions o( the human being, consciousness, origin, and the
sub*ect emerge, intersect, mingle, and separate o7+ 2ut it &ould probabl"
not be incorrect to sa" that the problem o( structure arose there too+
,his &or) is not an e.act description o( &hat can be read in
Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, or The rder of Things+
6t is di7erent on a great man" points+ 6t also includes a number o(
16
corrections and internal criticisms+ 8enerall" spea)ing, Madness and
Civilization accorded (ar too great a place, and a 'er" enigmatic one too,
to &hat 6 called an
0
e.periment
0
, thus sho&ing to &hat e.tent one &as
still close to admitting an anon"mous and general sub*ect o( histor"; in
The Birth of the Clinic, the (re-uent recourse to structural anal"sis
threatened to b"pass the specifcit" o( the problem presented, and the
le'el proper to archaeolog"; lastl", in The rder of Things, the absence o(
methodological signposting ma" ha'e gi'en the impression that m"
anal"ses &ere being conducted in terms o( cultural totalit"+ 6t is
morti("ing that 6 &as unable to a'oid these dangers: 6 console m"sel(
&ith the thought that the" &ere intrinsic to the enterprise itsel(, since, in
order to carr" out its tas), it had frst to (ree itsel( (rom these 'arious
methods and (orms o( histor"; moreo'er, &ithout the -uestions that 6 &as
as)ed (2%, &ithout the di(fculties that arose, &ithout the ob*ections that
&ere made, 6 ma" ne'er ha'e gained so clear a 'ie& o( the enterprise to
&hich 6 am no& ine.tricabl" lin)ed+ 5ence the cautious, stumbling
manner o( this te.t: at e'er" turn, it stands bac), measures up &hat is
be(ore it, gropes to&ards its limits, stumbles against &hat it does not
mean, and digs pits to mar) out its o&n path+ #t e'er" turn, it denounces
an" possible con(usion+ 6t re*ects its identit", &ithout pre'iousl" stating: 6
am neither this nor that+ 6t is not critical, most o( the time; it is not a &a"
o( sa"ing that e'er"one else is &rong+ 6t is an attempt to defne a
particular site b" the e.teriorit" o( its 'icinit"; rather than tr"ing to
reduce others to silence, b" claiming that &hat the" sa" is &orthless, 6
ha'e tried to defne this blan) space (rom &hich 6 spea), and &hich is
slo&l" ta)ing shape in a discourse that 6 still (eel to be so precarious and
so unsure+
0
#ren
0
t "ou sure o( &hat "ou
0
re sa"ing4 #re "ou going to change "et
again, shi(t "our position according to the -uestions that are put to "ou,
and sa" that the ob*ections are not reall" directed at the place (rom
&hich "ou are spea)ing4 #re "ou going to declare "et again that "ou ha'e
ne'er been &hat "ou ha'e been reproached &ith being4 #re "ou alread"
preparing the &a" out that &ill enable "ou in "our ne.t boo) to spring up
17
some&here else and declare as "ou
0
re no& doing: no, no, 6
0
m not &here
"ou are l"ing in &ait (or me, but o'er here, laughing at "ou4
0
0
3hat, do "ou imagine that 6 &ould ta)e so much trouble and so
much pleasure in &riting, do "ou thin) that 6 &ould )eep so persistentl"
to m" tas), i( 6 &ere not preparing ; &ith a rather sha)" hand ; a
lab"rinth into &hich 6 can 'enture, in &hich 6 can mo'e m" discourse,
opening up underground passages, (orcing it to go (ar (rom itsel(, fnding
o'erhangs that reduce and de(orm its itinerar", in &hich 6 can lose m"sel(
and appear at last to e"es that 6 &ill ne'er ha'e to meet again+ 6 am no
doubt not the onl" one &ho &rites in order to ha'e no (ace+ =o not as)
&ho 6 am and do not as) me to remain the same: lea'e it to our
bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order+ #t least
spare us their moralit" &hen &e &rite+
0
NOTES
(1% ,he Anglish 0)no&ledge0 translates the French !connaissance! and !savoir!"
Connaissance re(ers here to a particular corpus o( )no&ledge, a particular
discipline ; biolog" or economics, (or e.ample+ #avoir$ &hich is usuall" defned
as )no&ledge in general, the totalit" o( connaissnnces, is used b" Foucault in
an underl"ing, rather than an o'erall, &a"+ 5e has himsel( o7ered the (ollo&ing
comment on his usage o( the terms: B2" connaissance 6 mean the relation o( the
sub*ect to the ob*ect and the (ormal rules that go'ern it+ #avoir re(ers to the
conditions that are necessar" in a particular period (or this or that t"pe o(
ob*ect to be gi'en to connaissance and (or this or that enunciation to be
(ormulated+B ,hroughout this translation 6 ha'e used the Anglish &ord,
(ollo&ed, &here the meaning re-uired it, b" the appropriate French &ord in
parentheses (,r+%+
(2% 6n particular, the frst pages o( this introduction are based on a repl" to
-uestions presented b" the 9ercle d0Apistemologic o( the A+>+$+ (c(+ 9ahiers
pour l0#nal"se, no+ %+ # s)etch o( certain de'elopments &as also gi'en in repl"
to readers o( the re'ie& Asprit (#pril 1CD%+
18