Structural Analysis and Dianoematics: The History (of the History) of Philosophy according to Martial Gueroult

Gueroult's studies of authors such as Descartes and Spinoza remain among the most widely referenced today. His monographs on individual philosophers cannot, however, be adequately assessed without awareness of the position he occupied within French philosophy. They were integral parts of a comprehensive project to understand not only past philosophy, but also the philosophical importance of the history of philosophy as a discipline, elaborated in his so-called "dianoematics." This article offers an original reconstruction of Martial Gueroult's philosophical conception of the history of philosophy. First, I discuss how Gueroult was positioned in the intellectual landscape of his time, before turning his structural analysis and technology of systems. Next, I discuss Gueroult's Kantian approach to relations between philosophy and the history of the history of philosophy. In conclusion, I point to the contemporary relevance of his project.