In early work, Macherey defends the Althusserian belief that scientific Marxism opposes Stalinist and humanist theory and that literature, situated between science and ideology, shows but does not tell the truth. In later work, Macherey repudiates the Althusserian opposition of science and ideology as well as the disciplinary divisions of literature and philosophy. Inspired by Michel Foucault's archeological studies, he shows that theory is always situated in a practical context in which it reveals the antagonisms of and takes a position on the contrary views forming the context. He grants the validity of a work's misreadings, what he calls “true errors,” and evaluates a work's historical influence and philosophy's institutional contexts.