Philosophical genealogy is a distinct method of historical and philosophical inquiry that was
developed by the nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and subsequently adopted
and extended by the twentieth-century philosopher Michel Foucault. In brief genealogies
critically examine the historical origin of philosophical concepts ideas and practices. They
challenge the value of traditional methods of philosophical inquiry along with the results that
these inquiries produce. Philosophical Genealogy Volume I: An Epistemological Reconstruction of
the Genealogical Method explored the three axes of the genealogical method: power truth and
the ethical. In addition various ontological and epistemic problems pertaining to each of
these axes were examined. In Philosophical Genealogy Volume II: An Epistemological
Reconstruction of the Genealogical Method these problems are now resolved. Volume II
establishes what requisite ontological underpinnings are required in order to provide a
successful epistemic reconstruction of the genealogical method. Problems regarding the nature
of the body the relation between power and resistance as well as the justification of
Nietzschean perspectivism are now all clearly answered. It is shown that genealogy is a
profound fecund and most importantly coherent method of philosophical and historical
investigation which may produce many new discoveries in the fields of ethics and moral inquiry
provided it is correctly employed.
