The philosophical challenge of the book on the signs. A balance of the contributions and limitations of The Order of Things of Michel Foucault

Abstract

Fifty years after its publication, this article tries to establish the place of The order of things in the first period of the trajectory of its author. To do so, we have taken into consideration the theoretical challenges assumed, the categories coined and the perspective of approach designed by Michel Foucault to carry out his own philosophical program. Hence the need to incorporate into the analysis two other relevant texts of the period, namely the Complementary Thesis where, with the excuse of specifying the genesis and structure of The anthropology in the pragmatic sense of Kant, our author outlined his project and The archeology of knowledge in which he explained his methodological tools. Guided through this triad and without ignoring the problematic aspects, the article tries to show the philosophical validity of the text that at the time was conceived by its author as "the book of signs