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Universal taxonomy of Carolus Linnaeus b mathesis universalis of Leibniz are the ground of Michel Foucault’s conception ‘episteme’
$EVWUDFW ‘Episteme’ designates the accepted mode of acquiring and arranging knowledge in a given period. An episteme unites the various discourses and guarantees their coherence within an underlying structure of implicit assumptions about the status of knowledge. The term has gained currency from the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, especially his Les Mots et les choses (The Order of Things, 1966; Bulgarian edition: GZmdZ b badmkl\h, 1990).
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Vasil Penchev, PhD, Assoc. Prof. – Department “Philosophy of History�, Institute for Philosophical Research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
E-mail: vasildinev@gmail.com http://four.fsphost.com/vasil7penchev
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p. 86-87
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6\VWHPZ naturae 3KLORVRSKLH botanique Linnaeus is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of classification which is based upon observable characteristics.
While the underlying details concerning what are considered to be scientifically valid 'observable characteristics' has changed with expanding knowledge, the fundamental principle remains sound.
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In Systema naturae (1735) he presented his classification of plants, animals, and minerals, and in Genera plantarum (1737) he explained his system for classifying plants largely on the basis of the number of stamens and pistils in the flower. Despite the artificiality of some of his premises, the Linnaean system has remained the basis of modern taxonomy.
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The English translation is from: www.illogicaloperation.com/textz/ foucault_michel_the_order_of_things.htm
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â€œâ€Ś there must be some general science to explain everything which can be asked concerning measure and order not predicated of any special subject matter. This, I perceived, was called “Universal Mathematicsâ€?, not a far fetched designation, but one of long standing which has passed into current use, because in this science is contained everything on account of which others are called parts of mathematics.â€?
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“Wenn man dagegen an dem Verteidiger der Epigenesis den groĂ&#x;en Vorzug, den er in Ansehung der ErfahrungsgrĂźnde zum Beweise seiner Theorie vor dem ersteren hat, gleich nicht kennete: so wĂźrde die Vernunft doch schon zum voraus fĂźr seine Erklärungsart mit vorzĂźglicher Gunst eingenommen sein, weil sie die Natur in Ansehung der Dinge, welche man ursprĂźnglich nur nach der Kausalität der Zwecke sich als mĂśglich vorstellen kann‌â€?
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“ ‌ doch wenigstens, was die Fortpflanzung betrifft, als selbst hervorbringend, nicht bloĂ&#x; als entwickelnd, betrachtet, und so doch mit dem kleinstmĂśglichen Aufwande des ĂœbernatĂźrlichen alles Folgende vom ersten Anfange an der Natur ĂźberläĂ&#x;t (ohne aber Ăźber diesen ersten Anfang, an dem die Physik Ăźberhaupt scheitert, sie mag es mit einer Kette der Ursachen versuchen, mit welcher sie wolle, etwas zu bestimten)â€?
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“Folglich bleibt nur das zweite Ăźbrig (gleichsam ein System der Epigenesis der reinen Vernunft): daĂ&#x; nämlich die Kategorien von seiten des Verstandes die GrĂźnde der MĂśglichkeit aller Erfahrung Ăźberhaupt enthalten.â€?
S. 128
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Der transzendentalen Analytik Die Analytik der Begriffe
Translated by J. M. D. Meiklejohn
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&RQFOXVLRQ XVII century, the century of LinnÊ passed under the sign of classification. It was sanctioned by a leaving His Creation Creator, however yet remaining the focus of things, the order of thing as a specific part of the world allowing for people to classify all the plants and animals‌
Two centuries later, Michel Foucault attempted to classify analogically all the knowledge not by its correspondence to things, but by its coherence with itself. The hidden focus of his notion of “epistemaâ€?, of that coherence of words with themselves, turned out LinnÊ’s principle of classification‌
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