To oppose genesis to structure is to oppose function (in its development, in its progressively diversified operations, in the powers of adaptation it has acquired and balanced in time) to the synchronism of conﬂict and rule, of signification and system; to oppose analysis by means of that which is 'underneath' to analysis on the same level as its object is to oppose conﬂict (a primary, archaic datum inscribed at the same time as man's fundamental needs) to function and signification as they are deployed in their particular realization; to oppose comprehension to explanation is to oppose the technique that makes it possible to decipher a meaning on the basis of a signifying system to those that make it possible to give an account of a conﬂict together with its consequences, or of the forms and deformations that a function and its organs may assume or undergo.