Abstract
Through his cataclysmic assault on the familiar paradigms of modern thought, Michel
Foucault has sought to entirely reconfigure the field of historical knowledge, and
consequently the way in which we understand ìhistoryî itself. This paper seeks to
explore Foucaultís historico-philosophical approach and its critique of traditional
approaches to history, while also developing a critique of Foucaultís work by bringing it
into dialogue with the work of Walter Benjamin. The neglect of a possible dialogue
between Foucault and Benjamin is a significant gap in the literature, and this paper aims
to use it as a means to better understanding Foucaultís work, while also using it to
develop a substantive critique of Foucaultís approach. The paper begins by presenting
an elaboration of Foucaultís historico-philosophical methodology, attempting to isolate
the two branches (the genealogical and archaeological) that intersect to form this
methodology, highlighting their Nietzschean and Kantian influence. It then proceeds to
bring Foucaultís approach into a dialogue with Benjamin. While Foucaultís attempt to
break through the orthodox position that permeates traditional historiography is a
welcome development (and one similar, in several respects, to Benjaminís), Benjaminís
work would suggest that the manner in which Foucault does so retains an aspect of the
reified history he rejectsóthe absolute break between the past and the present. While
Foucault will present a more nuanced version of this breakóand one that will not deny
historical changeófor Benjamin this break produces a historical forgetting that
ultimately denies the past an effective place in history.
Foucault has sought to entirely reconfigure the field of historical knowledge, and
consequently the way in which we understand ìhistoryî itself. This paper seeks to
explore Foucaultís historico-philosophical approach and its critique of traditional
approaches to history, while also developing a critique of Foucaultís work by bringing it
into dialogue with the work of Walter Benjamin. The neglect of a possible dialogue
between Foucault and Benjamin is a significant gap in the literature, and this paper aims
to use it as a means to better understanding Foucaultís work, while also using it to
develop a substantive critique of Foucaultís approach. The paper begins by presenting
an elaboration of Foucaultís historico-philosophical methodology, attempting to isolate
the two branches (the genealogical and archaeological) that intersect to form this
methodology, highlighting their Nietzschean and Kantian influence. It then proceeds to
bring Foucaultís approach into a dialogue with Benjamin. While Foucaultís attempt to
break through the orthodox position that permeates traditional historiography is a
welcome development (and one similar, in several respects, to Benjaminís), Benjaminís
work would suggest that the manner in which Foucault does so retains an aspect of the
reified history he rejectsóthe absolute break between the past and the present. While
Foucault will present a more nuanced version of this breakóand one that will not deny
historical changeófor Benjamin this break produces a historical forgetting that
ultimately denies the past an effective place in history.