On the essay on the normal and the pathological, eighty years later (1943-2023)

This paper aims to remember the publication of the Essay on the Normal and the Pathological (1943) by Georges Canguilhem when celebrating the eightieth anniversary of its publication. In this work, the essay itself is distinguished, which made up the doctoral thesis in medicine of 1943, and the extension published in 1966 with the title New reflections on the normal and the pathological . After reconstructing the genesis of the two parts of Canguilhem's work and placing his arguments in the historical and intellectual context of the l0th century, the relevance of his proposals is evaluated by putting them in relation to the most recent developments in the life sciences.