Derrida y Foucault: Ciencias humanas, estructuralismo y tradición filosófica

Context: Despite their differences, Derrida and Foucault were part of a generation of intellectuals concerned with the nature of the human sciences. This shared concern is one of several points of convergence we present in relation to two texts: “The Human Sciences,” the final chapter of The Order of Things by Foucault, and “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” by Derrida.

Methodology: A textual analysis of these works, supported by a few additional sources, allows us to highlight the connection between the two authors based on their inquiry into (1) the future of the human sciences and (2) their shared expectation of the arrival of an event within the order of knowledge.

Conclusions: Around these two themes, we point to a methodological convergence between the authors. Already in the 1960s, though in very different ways, Foucault and Derrida coincide in recognizing the exhaustion of reflections centered on language and in their critique of the “philosophical tradition.” Additionally, the texts discussed allow us to identify, from a present-day perspective, affinities between their work and posthumanism, as well as with situated, decolonial, and other currents of contemporary thought