Histoire du structuralisme

Published in 1991, François Dosse’s Histoire du structuralisme provides a comprehensive intellectual history of the movement that redefined French philosophy, linguistics, and social sciences throughout the twentieth century. Dosse, a historian and philosopher, sought to map the rise and eventual decline of structuralism by tracing the intersecting lives and theories of figures like Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, and Roland Barthes. The work emerged from a desire to move beyond the internal textual analysis characteristic of structuralist studies, instead offering a sociological and biographical contextualization of how these complex ideas gained academic hegemony.

The design of the volume reflects its nature as a rigorous, encyclopedic survey, intended for an academic audience and students of contemporary theory. Dosse’s narrative style was deliberately chosen to contrast with the often opaque, dense prose of the theorists he discussed, aiming for clarity and accessibility in describing the so-called 'human sciences.' Upon its release, the text was well-received for its immense archival scope, becoming a standard reference for scholars looking to understand the transition from structuralism to post-structuralism within the broader landscape of modern Western thought.