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Overview

The Archaeology of Knowledge was written by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault and published in 1969 with the subtitle And the Discourse on Language. It represents Foucault’s attempt, to describe theoretically the method he had used in his first three books of history (Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, and The Order of Things). It is not a presentation of a formal theory built logically from axioms, but rather a description of a specific kind of approach to history—a “way of speaking” about history.

Read the overall summary, six key Questions & Answers, and explanations of important quotes from The Archaeology of Knowledge. Or, learn more by studying SparkNotes guides to other works by Michel Foucault.

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