Editing Intellectual history (section)

=== Foucault's approach ===
{{See also|Genealogy (philosophy)|The Archaeology of Knowledge}}

[[Michel Foucault]] rejected [[narrative]], the historian's traditional mode of communication, because of what he believed to be the shallow treatment of facts, figures, and people in a long period, rather than deep research that shows the interconnections among the facts, figures, and people of a specific period of history.<ref>Felluga, Dino. [http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaulthistory.html "Modules on Foucault: On History"], ''Introductory Guide to Critical Theory''.</ref> Foucault said that historians should reveal historical descriptions through the use of different perspectives of the "archaeology of knowledge", whose historical method for writing history is in four ideas.

First, the archaeology of knowledge defines the period of history through philosophy, by way of the discourses among [[thought]], [[Representation (arts)|representation]], and themes. Second, that the notion of discontinuity has an important role in the disciplines of history. Third, that discourse does not seek to grasp the moment in history, wherein the social and the persons under study are inverted into each other. Fourth, that Truth is not the purpose of history, but the discourse contained in history.<ref>Foucault, Michel. [https://foucault.info/doc/documents/archaeologyofknowledge/foucault-archaeologyofknowledge-00-intro-html "Archaeology of Knowledge, Introduction"], A.M. Sherida Smith, Ed. Vintage, 1982.</ref>