Abstract
Contemporary accounts of individual self-formation struggle to articulate a mode of subjectivity not determined by relations of power. In response to this dilemma, Foucault's late lectures on the ancient ethical practices of "fearless speech" (parrhesia) offer a model of ethical self-governance that educates individuals to ethical and political engagement. Rooted in the psychological capacities of curiosity and resolve, such self-governance equips individuals with a "disposition to steadiness" that orients individuals in the face of uncertainty. The practices of parrhesia accomplish this task without fabricating a distinction between internal soul and external body; by creating not a "body of knowledge" but a "body of practices"; and without reference to an external order such as nature, custom, tradition, or religion. The result is an "expressive subject" defined through expressive practices sustained by a simultaneous relationship to herself and to others. Individuals develop themselves not through their ability to "dare to know" but as those who "dare to act".
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 377-402 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Political Theory |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2008 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright:Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Ethics
- Foucault
- Parrhesia
- Self-governance
- Subjectivity