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<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Notes on </b></span><b><i>The Archaeology of Knowledge. And the Discourse on Language, </i>by Michel Foucault (1972)</b></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><b></b><br></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><b></b><br></p> | |||
<p class="p1"><i>Introduction</i></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Historians preferred the analysis of long periods. | <p class="p1">Historians preferred the analysis of long periods.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Tools: invented and inherited: | <p class="p1">Tools: invented and inherited:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
sedimentary strata | <p class="p1">sedimentary strata</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
unmoving histories | <p class="p1">unmoving histories</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Before | <p class="p1">Before</p> | ||
problem of historians: causality, continuity, significance, totality, connexions. | <p class="p1">problem of historians: causality, continuity, significance, totality, connexions.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Now | <p class="p1">Now</p> | ||
isolation, periodization, system of relation. | <p class="p1">isolation, periodization, system of relation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Histories of idea, science etc. : attention turned to disruptions, not to periods. | <p class="p1">Histories of idea, science etc. : attention turned to disruptions, not to periods.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Bachelard: epistemological acts and thresholds: interruptions | <p class="p1">Bachelard: <i>epistemological acts and thresholds</i>: interruptions<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
displacements and transformations of concepts (Canguilhelm) | <p class="p1"><i>displacements and transformations</i> of concepts (Canguilhelm)</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
evolution of a concept: not only progressive refinement and abstraction, but fields of constitution, theoretical context, etc. | <p class="p1">evolution of a concept: not only progressive refinement and abstraction, but fields of constitution, theoretical context, etc.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
<p class="p1"><i>Microscopic and macroscopic scales</i> in the history of sciences.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Recurrent redistributions | <p class="p1"><i>Recurrent redistributions<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
several pasts, several connexions, several hierarchies | <p class="p1">several pasts, several connexions, several hierarchies</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
historical descriptions are necessarily ordered by the present state of knowledge and they increase with every transformation. | <p class="p1">historical descriptions are necessarily ordered by the present state of knowledge and they increase with every transformation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Guérolt, architectonic unities of systems: not descriptions of traditions, but with coherences, axioms of these. | <p class="p1">Guérolt, <i>architectonic unities </i>of systems: not descriptions of traditions, but with coherences, axioms of these.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
radical break is the one by a theoretical transformation that takes a science out of a past showing the ideological connotation of this period. | <p class="p1">radical break is the one by a theoretical transformation that takes a science out of a past showing the ideological connotation of this period.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
the problem here is one of division, the rebuilding of foundations. | <p class="p1">the problem here is one of division, the rebuilding of foundations.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
this new form of history poses some questions: how concepts of discontinuity are specified? | <p class="p1">this new form of history poses some questions: how concepts of discontinuity are specified?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
how you isolate unities? | <p class="p1">how you isolate unities?</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | |||
What is an oeuvre? a concept? a text? | <p class="p1">What is an <i>oeuvre?</i> a concept? a text?</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Conclusion: History of thought seeks for discontinuities while history finds stable structures. | <p class="p1">Conclusion: History of thought seeks for discontinuities while history finds stable structures.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><i></i><br></p> | |||
This interchange is only apparent | <p class="p1">This interchange is only apparent</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
The questioning of the document. | <p class="p1">The questioning of the <i>document.</i></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><i></i><br></p> | |||
<p class="p1">History as a reconstitution of a past that the documents <i>emanate</i></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><i></i><br></p> | |||
history doesn’t interpratate the document, doesn’t judge it, history classifies it, order it | <p class="p1">history doesn’t interpratate the document, doesn’t judge it, history classifies it, order it</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
history defines unities within the documentary material. | <p class="p1">history defines unities within the documentary material.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Memory | <p class="p1">Memory</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
History not memory, history is society in connection to its documentation. | <p class="p1">History not memory, history is society in connection to its documentation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
In our time, history is what transform documents into monuments. | <p class="p1">In our time, history is what transform <i>documents </i>into <i>monuments.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><i></i><br></p> | |||
History deploys elements, grouping them and connecting them. | <p class="p1">History deploys elements, grouping them and connecting them.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Form totalities. | <p class="p1">Form totalities.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
history aspires to archeology, to the intrinsic description of the monument. | <p class="p1">history aspires to archeology, to the intrinsic description of the monument.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Consequences: | <p class="p1">Consequences:</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- proliferation of discontinuities, emergence of long periods in history itself. | <p class="p1">- proliferation of discontinuities, emergence of long periods in history itself.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
how to constitute series? define the elements proper to each series. | <p class="p1">how to constitute series? define the elements proper to each series.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
to fix the series boundaries. | <p class="p1">to fix the series boundaries.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
series of a series (tables) | <p class="p1">series of a series (tables)</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- | <p class="p1">-> number of strata, distinction of type of events, revealing of series<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
in history of ideas: | <p class="p1">in history of ideas:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
questioning of convergence and culmination, of teleology. Doubting about totalities. | <p class="p1">questioning of convergence and culmination, of teleology. Doubting about totalities.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- | <p class="p1">-> different series, overlapping and juxtaposing. no linearity. multilevel.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- discountinuity: major role in historical disciplines. | <p class="p1">- discountinuity: major role in historical disciplines.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Before | <p class="p1">Before</p> | ||
Discontinuity as something to be deleted | <p class="p1">Discontinuity as something to be deleted</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Now | <p class="p1">Now</p> | ||
Discontinuity as a basic element | <p class="p1">Discontinuity as a basic element</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Threefold role: | <p class="p1">Threefold role:</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
1. Deliberate operation by the historian | <p class="p1">1. Deliberate operation by the historian</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
2. Result of his description: historian is trying to find the limits, the boundaries | <p class="p1">2. Result of his description: historian is trying to find the limits, the boundaries</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
3. Concept the historian never stops to specify: specific form and function | <p class="p1">3. Concept the historian never stops to specify: specific form and function</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Paradoxical notion of discontinuity: instrument and object of research, | <p class="p1">Paradoxical notion of discontinuity: instrument and object of research,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Displacement of the discontinuous: it is not an external condition but a working concept. It determines the object and validate its analysis. | <p class="p1">Displacement of the discontinuous: it is not an external condition but a working concept. It determines the object and validate its analysis.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- No total history anymore | <p class="p1">- No <i>total history </i>anymore</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
General history! | <p class="p1"><i>General history!</i></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><i></i><br></p> | |||
Total history: Vertical notion, it applies to economics society, etc. | <p class="p1">Total history: Vertical notion, it applies to economics society, etc.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Problem of general history: | <p class="p1">Problem of general history:</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
What kind of relations could be legitimately described between different series? | <p class="p1">What kind of relations could be legitimately described between different series?</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
not only what series but also what series of series | <p class="p1">not only what series but also what series of series</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
centre vs dispersion | <p class="p1">centre vs dispersion</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- methodological problems characterize history. | <p class="p1">- methodological problems characterize history.</p> | ||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>building up coherent <i>corpora<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i> of documents</p> | |||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>establishing a principle of choice</p> | |||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>definition of the levels of analysis and relevant elements</p> | |||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>specification of a method of analysis</p> | |||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>delimitation of groups or sub-groups</p> | |||
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>determination of relations<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
methodological field of history need attention. Why? | <p class="p1">methodological field of history need attention. Why?</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
1. became to much free from “divenir” and from previous questions | <p class="p1">1. became to much free from “divenir” and from previous questions</p> | ||
2. it intersects with problems of other fields, problem labelled structuralism | <p class="p1">2. it intersects with problems of other fields, problem labelled structuralism</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
structure vs development | <p class="p1">structure vs development</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Epistemological mutation of history. | <p class="p1">Epistemological mutation of history.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
first phase: Marx | <p class="p1">first phase: Marx</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
difficulty in developing a theory of discontinuity. Why? | <p class="p1">difficulty in developing a theory of discontinuity. Why?</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
If history could remain the locus of continuity, it would provide a shelter for the sovereignty of consciousness. | <p class="p1">If history could remain the locus of continuity, it would provide a shelter for the sovereignty of consciousness.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Continuos history as the correlative of the founding subject. | <p class="p1">Continuos history as the correlative of the founding subject.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
In this system time is conceived in terms of totalization. | <p class="p1">In this system time is conceived in terms of totalization.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Decentring operated by Marx by the analysis of relations between production, economy, class - | <p class="p1">Decentring operated by Marx by the analysis of relations between production, economy, class -> the search of a total history</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
the organization of a world-view and a system of values. | <p class="p1">the organization of a world-view and a system of values.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
rationality as the “telos” (purpose) of mankind | <p class="p1">rationality as the “telos” (purpose) of mankind</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
decentring of the subject (his desire, his thoughts, his actions) by anthropologists, etc. - | <p class="p1">decentring of the subject (his desire, his thoughts, his actions) by anthropologists, etc. -> continuos history as a development, internal dynamic</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
consciousness turned upon itself | <p class="p1">consciousness turned upon itself</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
uninterrupted patience and vivacity of a moment | <p class="p1">uninterrupted patience and vivacity of a moment</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
anthropologize Marx | <p class="p1">anthropologize Marx</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
People don’t lament the disappearance of history, but of a certain kind o history, the one related to the subject. | <p class="p1">People don’t lament the disappearance of history, but of a certain kind o history, the one related to the subject.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
people lament “development”, the possibility of reanimating through the project | <p class="p1">people lament “development”, the possibility of reanimating through the project</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
ideological use of history | <p class="p1">ideological use of history</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
the treasure of the bygone was sacralized | <p class="p1">the treasure of the bygone was sacralized</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Past enterprises by Foucault tried to measure the mutations in the field of history. Objective of this book. | <p class="p1">Past enterprises by Foucault tried to measure the mutations in the field of history. Objective of this book.</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
Observations: | <p class="p1">Observations:</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- not transfer a structuralist method to the field of history. aim is to uncover the principles and and the consequences of the history’s transformation. | <p class="p1">- not transfer a structuralist method to the field of history. aim is to uncover the principles and and the consequences of the history’s transformation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
- define a method of historical analysis freed of the anthropological theme. (but consequent to) | <p class="p1">- define a method of historical analysis freed of the anthropological theme. (but consequent to)</p> | ||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
<p class="p2"><br></p> | |||
The book does not belong in the first instance to the debate on structure | <p class="p1">The book does not belong in the first instance to the debate on structure</p> | ||
Latest revision as of 17:26, 16 January 2012
Notes on The Archaeology of Knowledge. And the Discourse on Language, by Michel Foucault (1972)
Introduction
Historians preferred the analysis of long periods.
Tools: invented and inherited:
sedimentary strata
unmoving histories
Before
problem of historians: causality, continuity, significance, totality, connexions.
Now
isolation, periodization, system of relation.
Histories of idea, science etc. : attention turned to disruptions, not to periods.
Bachelard: epistemological acts and thresholds: interruptions
displacements and transformations of concepts (Canguilhelm)
evolution of a concept: not only progressive refinement and abstraction, but fields of constitution, theoretical context, etc.
Microscopic and macroscopic scales in the history of sciences.
Recurrent redistributions
several pasts, several connexions, several hierarchies
historical descriptions are necessarily ordered by the present state of knowledge and they increase with every transformation.
Guérolt, architectonic unities of systems: not descriptions of traditions, but with coherences, axioms of these.
radical break is the one by a theoretical transformation that takes a science out of a past showing the ideological connotation of this period.
the problem here is one of division, the rebuilding of foundations.
this new form of history poses some questions: how concepts of discontinuity are specified?
how you isolate unities?
What is an oeuvre? a concept? a text?
Conclusion: History of thought seeks for discontinuities while history finds stable structures.
This interchange is only apparent
The questioning of the document.
History as a reconstitution of a past that the documents emanate
history doesn’t interpratate the document, doesn’t judge it, history classifies it, order it
history defines unities within the documentary material.
Memory
History not memory, history is society in connection to its documentation.
In our time, history is what transform documents into monuments.
History deploys elements, grouping them and connecting them.
Form totalities.
history aspires to archeology, to the intrinsic description of the monument.
Consequences:
- proliferation of discontinuities, emergence of long periods in history itself.
how to constitute series? define the elements proper to each series.
to fix the series boundaries.
series of a series (tables)
-> number of strata, distinction of type of events, revealing of series
in history of ideas:
questioning of convergence and culmination, of teleology. Doubting about totalities.
-> different series, overlapping and juxtaposing. no linearity. multilevel.
- discountinuity: major role in historical disciplines.
Before
Discontinuity as something to be deleted
Now
Discontinuity as a basic element
Threefold role:
1. Deliberate operation by the historian
2. Result of his description: historian is trying to find the limits, the boundaries
3. Concept the historian never stops to specify: specific form and function
Paradoxical notion of discontinuity: instrument and object of research,
Displacement of the discontinuous: it is not an external condition but a working concept. It determines the object and validate its analysis.
- No total history anymore
General history!
Total history: Vertical notion, it applies to economics society, etc.
Problem of general history:
What kind of relations could be legitimately described between different series?
not only what series but also what series of series
centre vs dispersion
- methodological problems characterize history.
building up coherent corpora of documents
establishing a principle of choice
definition of the levels of analysis and relevant elements
specification of a method of analysis
delimitation of groups or sub-groups
determination of relations
methodological field of history need attention. Why?
1. became to much free from “divenir” and from previous questions
2. it intersects with problems of other fields, problem labelled structuralism
structure vs development
Epistemological mutation of history.
first phase: Marx
difficulty in developing a theory of discontinuity. Why?
If history could remain the locus of continuity, it would provide a shelter for the sovereignty of consciousness.
Continuos history as the correlative of the founding subject.
In this system time is conceived in terms of totalization.
Decentring operated by Marx by the analysis of relations between production, economy, class -> the search of a total history
the organization of a world-view and a system of values.
rationality as the “telos” (purpose) of mankind
decentring of the subject (his desire, his thoughts, his actions) by anthropologists, etc. -> continuos history as a development, internal dynamic
consciousness turned upon itself
uninterrupted patience and vivacity of a moment
anthropologize Marx
People don’t lament the disappearance of history, but of a certain kind o history, the one related to the subject.
people lament “development”, the possibility of reanimating through the project
ideological use of history
the treasure of the bygone was sacralized
Past enterprises by Foucault tried to measure the mutations in the field of history. Objective of this book.
Observations:
- not transfer a structuralist method to the field of history. aim is to uncover the principles and and the consequences of the history’s transformation.
- define a method of historical analysis freed of the anthropological theme. (but consequent to)
The book does not belong in the first instance to the debate on structure