First published in 1967, "Writing and Difference, " a collection of Jacques Derrida's essays written between 1959 and 1966, has become a landmark of contemporary French thought. In it we find Derrida at work on his systematic deconstruction of Western metaphysics. The book's first half, which includes the celebrated essay on Descartes and Foucault, shows the development of Derrida's method of deconstruction. In these essays, Derrida demonstrates the traditional nature of some purportely nontraditional currents of modern thought - one of his main targets being the way in which "structuralism" unwittingly repeats metaphysical concepts in its use of linguistic modes.

在《主体解释学》中，福柯对“关心自己”进行了详细的研究。对于福柯来说，“关心自己”不仅仅是著名的德尔斐神渝“认识你自己”，而且还包括各种哲学实践。它旨在表明伦理主体是根据什么手段，步骤和历史目的在与自身的既定关系中自我塑造的。这个研究超过了严格的哲学史范围。福柯在描述古代主体化方式的同时，力图揭示现代主体化方式的暂时性。因为解读占代人，可以让我们探询我们这些现代主体的身份。