Foucault Against Hegel: A Study of Archaeo-Genealogy and Philosophy of History
Subject Areas : Comparative studies in the field of history of philosophy
1 - Associate Professor, Department of Religious and Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran
Keywords: History, archaeo-genealogy, philosophy of history, Foucault, Hegel,
Abstract :
Foucault and Hegel are two influential thinkers who dealt with the problem of knowledge and history so fundamentally that without understanding the place of history in their thoughts, a correct perception of their views would be extremely difficult. Foucault has scatteredly referred to Hegel and his opposition to his views in this works; however, he has never clarified the details of this conflict clearly. Nevertheless, a glance at Foucault’s works, particularly those containing his views regarding archaeo-genealogy, reveals a fundamental opposition between his method and Hegel’s approach to the philosophy of history. Foucault’s view, relying on Nietzsche’s ideas, is completely against any kind of metaphysics or philosophy of history, with the former being based on plurality, discontinuity, and non-existence of any kind of universal end and the latter relying on universality, reason, and teleology. Here, the author intends to demonstrate that these two thinkers shared some of their views regarding certain fundamental problems, including those related to history, although they have provided completely different responses to them.