Purple Magazine
— The Magic Issue #42 F/W 2024

by MICHEL FOUCAULT

artwork by JOLIE ALIEN

The seminal French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault (1926–1984) Published in 1966 “Les Mots et Les Choses (The Order of Things)”, one of his most influential works, in which he examines how knowledge systems (or epistemes) change and structure our understanding of the world and what is considered truth.

In this excerpt, he clarifies that magic is a legitimate form of knowledge. It is grounded in a system of similitudes and relationships that link signs with nature “forming, for those who can read it, one vast single text.”