Dan's Reviews > The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences

Foucault is hard to categorize. Some see him as a post-structuralist, others argue that he is a new historicist. I think he sees himself as a descendant of Friedrich Nietzsche.

The first part of this book is great simply on the level of entertainment. Foucault's analysis of Velazquez's Las Meninas stands out as an essay that can be read on its own. I also enjoyed the discussion of Don Quixote.

The latter part of the book is much more of a historical study. Foucault has an interesting theory about the changes in the dominant epistemes--the ways we organize knowledge--and he employs an analysis of Enlightenment texts to substantiate his argument.

As an English major, I enjoyed Foucault's discussion of language; the sections on biology and on economics were somewhat more work for me, as I am not as knowledgeable about these subjects, so there are probably points Foucault makes that I have missed.

Although his argument is dense and theoretical, and he makes references to things that may be obscure to the general reader, yet Foucault writes in a straightforward way that is generally free of the jargon and convoluted grammar one finds in some other contemporary theorists (*ahem* Jacques La-*cough*)

Acquired 1995
The Word, Montreal, Quebec