Page "Michel Foucault" Paragraph 20

Foucault's secondary thesis involved a translation of, and commentary on, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant's 1798 work Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View ( Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht ).

Much of this thesis consisted of Foucault's discussion of textual dating – an " archaeology of the Kantian text " – although he rounded off the work with an evocation of Nietzche, who had become his biggest philosophical influence.

This work's rapporteur sponsor was his old tutor, Jean Hyppolite, who was himself well acquainted with German philosophy and who was then director of the ENS.

After having both of his theses championed and reviewed, he had to undergo his public defense, the soutenance de thèse, on 20 May 1961.

The academics responsible for reviewing his work were concerned about the unconventional nature of his major thesis ; Henri Gouhier, one of the reviewers, noted that it was not a conventional work of history, making sweeping generalisations without sufficient particular argument, and that Foucault clearly " thinks in allegories ".

They all agreed however that the overall project was of merit, and so awarded Foucault his doctorate " despite reservations ".