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Based on the letters exchanged by philosopher Georges Canguilhem and historian Henri Ellenberger, this paper looks back on the controversial topic of the « forerunner » in the history of science and more particularly in the history of psychiatry (see Ellenberger’s conference in Yale : « Psychiatry and its History : Methodological Problems in Research », 1967). On the one hand, we recall Canguilhem’s unfolding attitudes to the question of forerunners and continuators in the history of science – a stance one should not confuse with the more radical position of Alexandre Koyré. On the other hand, our study draws on the systematic exploration of the use of the word « forerunner » in the main works of Canguilhem and Ellenberger. In fact, although Canguilhem reduces the possibilities of the existence of real forerunners in the history of science, we highlight the fact that he continues to grant legitimacy to this notion in the history of techniques. Lastly, contradicting common misconception, we bring evidence that Ellenberger, in a reflective stance, restricts the notion to the description of collective processes of knowledge accumulation. Even more importantly, he describes it as a « retrospective » construct as part of a framework of research on the phenomena of transmission of knowledge and filiation between scholars.