In this article, I analyze the structure of the history of philosophy as a discipline starting from the act of its foundation, namely Book I of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Aristotle laid the foundation for the history of philosophy: he assigned to philosophy a past, and therefore a tradition. The story told by Aristotle is a possible model of performative discourse: his narrative did not merely describe a state of things, but established and created it while assigning each character a role and function. In this regard, what is the relationship between truth and performativity? And what critical function can genealogy play in such a context? Finally, what is the value to be assigned to the effects produced by the genealogical practice? This article attempts to explore these issues and provide an early, partial answer.