Digging Archaeology: Sources of Foucault's Historiography

Green, Christopher D. (1994) Digging Archaeology: Sources of Foucault's Historiography.

Abstract

This paper is divided into two main parts. In the first I show that Foucault's approach was not, contrary to widespread opinion, particularly Marxist, structuralist, or irrationalist, at least in any straightforward way. In the second, I examine the origins of his early historiography -- the archaeology -- in mainstream French history and philosophy of science. The focus is on the influential works of Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem. At the end of the paper I briefly comment on the relation between the archaeology and Foucault's later historiographical approach -- the genealogy.