What is philosophy, and what is its role today?

Foucault presents a new approach to understanding philosophy: as a material discourse aimed at diagnosing the present. He also analyzes the boundaries separating philosophical discourse from other discourses—scientific, literary, and religious.

In a manuscript published for the first time more than half a century after it was written, Foucault offers the most comprehensive and lucid account of the ambitions behind his intellectual project.

A major contribution to the existing archive and a vital stimulus for thinking about the future.