HELP: As the archeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date.?

Question

As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.

--Michel Foucault

Can anybody help analysis this Foucault quote in context?

Thank you

Answer 1

Ah. This is why my cat is named Foucault.

I'm assuming it is from The Order of Things?  Foucault is saying that the idea of structure, of science is what makes humans rise above their basic instincts and be different from animals. As we move past structure and human constructs (which he both condemns and praises) we run the risk of the man-creature, the maker of science, becoming extinct, either as a post-human, with some as yet incomprehensible archaeology of thought, or a pre-human, reverting to our less structured, baser self, or through extinction via our own damnable behaviors.

He is also, and perhaps more importantly, stating a worry that mankind as a thinking creature, studied empirically, is in danger of being swallowed up in the social sciences, man will cease to exist as an object of study because we will invent something- a new psyche, for example- which we will study instead of man... he worries we study the constructs and disciplines, not the being, which is itself a construct.

Foucault rocks, but some of his concepts can be very hard to get around, especially when in English.