Michel Foucault, ‘Preface’, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences
Topic
In the preface, Michel Foucault questions and analyses the rules of classification inherent in human society from a linguistic perspective through the classification of the animals of Borges. At the same time, the author explores the position of objects classified by humans in the space created by language, as well as the use of episteme to delineate the different eras and explain the relationship between “words and things” implied by the different knowledge types.
Argument
Michel Foucault begins by introducing the way in which animals are classified in Borges’ fictional Chinese encyclopedia. Although this is a haphazard classification that seems to transcend the boundaries of the mind, it is in fact a careful distinction between the real and the imagined. Moreover, the sense of confusion brought about by this categorization is not brought about by the order of things.
Foucault introduced the idea of a common locus created by language, where the animals listed are made up of alphabetical order of A to M. This linguistic non-place is called by Foucault heterotopias. In contrast to the warmth of utopia, there is no complete grammar in heterotopia, only broken language, and in this way, Foucault questions the rationality of the rules of language and the human habit of distinguishing between similarities and differences. At the same time, Foucault likens the discomfort one feels at seeing Borges’ categories to atopia and aphasia, to displacement, the loss of the commonality of place and name for things.
Layout
The preface devotes an entire sequential narrative to the introduction of Borges’ classification of animals, which is interpreted, questioned, and agreed upon in order to draw out the language and order inherent in human society, and in doing so to delve into archaeological ways of classification.
Meaning
The point of this preface is to break down the old perceptions that people are used to, to remove humans from the subject of the world by deconstructing language and order, and to prompt people to think about other ways of arranging the world. The relationship between language and things that Foucault refers to is enough to make people start reflecting on the most basic, underlying logic of everyday life, how we are to perceive the world when the language that people are used to is broken and disintegrated. When applying this thinking to the catalog that exists on a 3d model website, I began to think about what makes up the grid that it presents in this catalog, so I tried to analyze the commonalities of these 3d models under the category of food and drinks in terms of brands, colors, materials, placement relationships, and quantities. But as Foucault questioned about classification, things can be placed in different divisions at the same time, and this made me start to rethink the categories I had listed, including their relationship and the context.
Bibliorgaphy
Foucault, M. (1966). ‘Preface’, in The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London: Routledge, pp. xvi-xxvi.