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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2010
Anyone familiar with contemporary French culture could not fail to notice that, in the field of ideas, history and the philosophy of history occupy in France a more central place than in England or North America. The work and concerns—including the methodological concerns—of historians like Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel and the Annalistes, Georges Lefebvre, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Michel de Certeau, Jacques Le Goff and Francois Furet, are known, discussed and taken on board by most French intellectuals and academics.
1 Recall that not too long ago, Sartre felt justified in claiming that Marxism is ‘la philosophie indépassable de notre temps’. (Marxism is ‘the philosophy of our times, beyond which one could not go.’)
2 Les mots et les choses: Une archéologie des sciences humaines (Paris: Gallimard, 1966)Google Scholar; trans. Sheridan, A., The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (London: Tavistock, 1970).Google Scholar
3 Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison (Paris: Gallimard, 1975)Google Scholar; trans. Sheridan, A., Discipline and Punish: Birth of the Prison (London: Allen Lane, 1977).Google Scholar
4 L'Archéologie du savoir (Paris: Gallimard, 1969)Google Scholar; trans. Sheridan, A., The Archaeology of Knowledge (London: Tavistock, 1972).Google Scholar
5 There are other conditions that must be satisfied before a particular element can be said to be succeeded by another, notably the requirement that the element should last in time at least until the emergence of its successor.
6 Originally the book appeared under the title Folie et déraison: histoire de la folie à l'âge classique (Paris: Plon, 1961)Google Scholar. The second edition was retitled Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique (Paris: Gallimard, 1972)Google Scholar. The edition I have used is Histoire de la folie à l'âge classique (Paris: Gallimard, Collection Tel, 1972).Google Scholar
7 Naissance de la clinique: Une archéologie du regard médical (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963)Google Scholar; trans. Sheridan, A., The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception (London: Tavistock, 1973).Google Scholar
8 Histoire de la Sexualité, 1: La volonté de savoir (Paris: Gallimard, 1976)Google Scholar; trans. Hurley, R., The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction (New York: Pantheon, 1978).Google Scholar
9 This description of internment, confession, the asylum and cures as elements is compiled here from many of Foucault's books, and could not be referenced individually.
10 Some of the details regarding confession have been supplied by me. They are not mentioned in Foucault's books.
11 ‘Nietzsche, l'histoire, la généalogie’, Hommage à Jean Hyppolite (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, Collection Epimethee, 1971)Google Scholar; trans. Bouchard, D. F. and Simon, S., ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’, Language, Counter-Memory, Practice (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977).Google Scholar
12 ‘Nietzsche, l'histoire, la généalogie’, op. cit., 148.Google Scholar
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., 151–152.
15 Ibid., 156.
16 Ibid., 153.
17 Ibid., 159.
18 Ibid., 152.
19 Ibid., 161.
20 Ibid., 152.
21 Ibid., 168.
22 It is possible however that an element may become totally extinguished, in that none of its components go on to form part of other elements.
23 Braudel, F.'s main book is Civilisation matérielle et Capitalisme, (XVe–XVIIIe siècle), 3 vols. (Paris: Armand Colin, 1979)Google Scholar; trans. Reynolds, S., Civilization and Capitalism, 1400–1800 (New York: Harper & Row, 1981–1984)Google Scholar. See also his Ecrits sur l'histoire (Paris: Flammarion, 1969)Google Scholar, in particular the essay entitled ‘Pour une histoire sérielle: Séville et l'Atlantique’, reprinted from Annales E.S.C., no. 3 (05–06 1963).Google Scholar
24 In particular, see his Histoire quantitative, histoire sérielle (Paris: Armand Collin, 1978), Ch 10Google Scholar. See also ‘Dynamique conjoncturelle et histoire sérielle’, Industrie, 6 06 (1960).Google Scholar
25 I have in mind mainly ‘economic’ or ‘quantitative’ histories, as well as some instances of so-called ‘cliometric’ histories.
26 Op. cit.
