A. Schmidt:
I am not sure how to describe the difference textually. But I put forth
for your consideration the following, which are the definitions I have
always assumed. You can make of them what you will, but perhaps they
will function as useful baselines.
Archaeology refers to a distant past, a pre-historic one perhaps.
Genealogy implies history; if the lineal descent of an idea or midset
can be charted "genealogized (or historicized) it is by definition
within the boundaries of history. Such might be ideas which can be
traced, say, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, from the former to John Dewey,
or from the latter to Heidegger (or Foucault, or Marcuse, etc).
Other notions are more primal, like foundation myths (consider, for
example, the mythical founding of Rome by Aeneas or the Fall from the
Garden of Eden as portrayed in the Torah or Milton). They are
unverifiable, empirically speaking, but reveal certain emotional truths
which suggest some connection to some sort of analogous event. Freud
gives us such an example: In Moses and Monotheism he cannot prove
empirically that Moses was Egyptian, or that there were two Moses
('Mose' says Freud is the singular form, abbreviated from the Egyptian
'Amen-a-mose'; historically this is weak, but Freud himself considered
his work an historical novel, not a journalistic narrative)--but within
Freud's own epistemology it was impossible for him to accept, without
the items in question, the story from Exodus. Thus his case is proven
(or not) based on 'rational' speculation, not on 'empirical'
observation.
Given certain parallels in the work of the late Freud and his disciples
with both structuralism and the movement Foucault has come to be
identified with (though Foucault himself tended to distance himself from
a number of the clowns who carry the postmodernist flag before them)
perhaps you'd like a look at Moses. It is, even if you reject its
explanations, a "good read."
I hope some of this has been helpful
Matt Thrond
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>From: Anders Legarth Schmidt <legarth@xxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Archaeology and Genealogy
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>Hi.
>I'm currently reading about the methods of Foucault and i'm having some
>trouble in distinguishing the two terms Archaeology and Genealogy. Can
>anybody help me out? Or give me a link to an article that deals with
this?
>Thanks.
>
>Anders Schmidt
>Roskilde University
>Denmark
>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
I am not sure how to describe the difference textually. But I put forth
for your consideration the following, which are the definitions I have
always assumed. You can make of them what you will, but perhaps they
will function as useful baselines.
Archaeology refers to a distant past, a pre-historic one perhaps.
Genealogy implies history; if the lineal descent of an idea or midset
can be charted "genealogized (or historicized) it is by definition
within the boundaries of history. Such might be ideas which can be
traced, say, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, from the former to John Dewey,
or from the latter to Heidegger (or Foucault, or Marcuse, etc).
Other notions are more primal, like foundation myths (consider, for
example, the mythical founding of Rome by Aeneas or the Fall from the
Garden of Eden as portrayed in the Torah or Milton). They are
unverifiable, empirically speaking, but reveal certain emotional truths
which suggest some connection to some sort of analogous event. Freud
gives us such an example: In Moses and Monotheism he cannot prove
empirically that Moses was Egyptian, or that there were two Moses
('Mose' says Freud is the singular form, abbreviated from the Egyptian
'Amen-a-mose'; historically this is weak, but Freud himself considered
his work an historical novel, not a journalistic narrative)--but within
Freud's own epistemology it was impossible for him to accept, without
the items in question, the story from Exodus. Thus his case is proven
(or not) based on 'rational' speculation, not on 'empirical'
observation.
Given certain parallels in the work of the late Freud and his disciples
with both structuralism and the movement Foucault has come to be
identified with (though Foucault himself tended to distance himself from
a number of the clowns who carry the postmodernist flag before them)
perhaps you'd like a look at Moses. It is, even if you reject its
explanations, a "good read."
I hope some of this has been helpful
Matt Thrond
>From owner-foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mon Oct 26 06:40:58 1998
>Received: (from domo@localhost) by lists.village.virginia.edu
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>Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 13:02:53 +0100
>To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>From: Anders Legarth Schmidt <legarth@xxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Archaeology and Genealogy
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>
>Hi.
>I'm currently reading about the methods of Foucault and i'm having some
>trouble in distinguishing the two terms Archaeology and Genealogy. Can
>anybody help me out? Or give me a link to an article that deals with
this?
>Thanks.
>
>Anders Schmidt
>Roskilde University
>Denmark
>
>
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com