Georges Canguilhem gives this illuminating description of Foucault’s episteme: “In order to perceive the episteme, it was necessary to exit from a given science and from the history of a given science; it was necessary to defy the specialization of specialists, and to try to become a specialist not of generality, but of interregionality . . . . The archaeologist has to have read a great number of things that others have not read . . . Foucault cites none of the historians in a given discipline; he refers only to original texts that slumber in libraries. People have talked about ‘dust.’ Fair enough. But just as a layer of dust on furniture is a measure of the housekeeper’s negligence, so a layer of dust on books is a measure of the carelessness of their custodians.”
And, the very fact that the books are dusty raises a question for Foucault: Why have these books been excluded?
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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