Genealogy as Methodology
Author: Hsuan-Lei Shao
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
Foucault’s genealogy focuses on the “discontinuity” of history, and it wouldbe most appropriate for conferring Foucault’s ontology and epistemology on his de-constructivism. This essay is an attempt to introduce the origin and function ofFoucault’s research methodology. It is also a genealogical analysis of genealogy.Genealogy is at first a research method by which people analyze their familymembers so as to understand where they come from and to obtain a sense ofcomfort from knowing from where and from whence they originated. Later onNietzsche used etymology to explore the development of “words” and their impliedvalues. In his research, Nietzsche discovered the disruption of inheritance of words.Words usually inherit their meanings selectively from their old meanings. Foucaultdeveloped his own research approach by adopting Nietzsche’s genealogy in theresearch on marginalized social issues, such as knowledge, sexuality and clinicalmedicine. Foucault deconstructed history and introduced a set of principles forgenealogy. The genealogy method is against holism, and may be used as analternative perspective on post-modern social sciences.