Is it possible that modern images of knowledge our bound to the historical conditions in which they arise? If modern knowledge systems are grounded at this level, the value of various forms of knowledge is found not in the transcendental or “truthfulness of a claim, but rather in the practical effects which result from such an assumption. In order to gauge the value of modern conceptualizations of knowledge, it is vital that we examine the practical environments in which distinct forms of knowledge emerge. If we examine the practical implications of a given way of thinking and acting, it may be possible to expose various sources of power relations which legitimize modern knowledge as a body of transcendental “truths”. The work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault offer us theoretical insight into modern images of knowledge and the structural components which have shaped this transcendental assumption. The three authors in question have attempted to critique the ways in which we conceptualize knowledge as a form of “reason”. This project serves as an examination of the primary means through which the authors in question locate the historical contingency of modern rationality. Through a genealogical investigation, this text functions as analysis of the primary concepts and links which bind the work of the three thinkers. Of particular importance is the direct impact of the work of Friedrich Nietzsche upon the work of Deleuze and Foucault.
Central to this project are the ways in which the chosen authors reveal the practically constituted elements inherent in the dominant conceptualizations of knowledge. It is revealed through this analysis that our authors propose that modern images of knowledge may be based upon various fictive abstractions. These abstractions are manipulated and enforced in order to legitimize “objective” truths which are generally assumed to be a priori foundations. Modern knowledge therefore is practically shaped and historically constituted rather than logically deduced. The work of the three authors in question mandates that the value of modern thought be critiqued via a genealogical analysis. Important to this critique is the legitimatization of concrete images of language and the self. Through an examination of the work of Nietzsche, Deleuze, and Foucault it is revealed that these vital concepts are essentially dependent upon the construction of fictive continuities. Finally, this text is an attempt to locate the ways in which the chosen authors conceptualize power as the fundamental element upon which the social construction of reality is centered.