Manchester University Press
3 Foucault and the ethics of subjectivity
Abstract
This chapter first argues that Michael Foucault was a modernist and that his work, especially in its late period, was saturated with the question of aesthetics. For him, this question was connected to the ultimately ethical question of autonomy. The concept of culture haunts, most generally, Foucault's nominalism. One can argue over what kind of nominalism it was that Foucault espoused exactly. The argument of the chapter is that Foucault's nominalism was strategic, even ultimately ethical, and not just an epistemic point of view, and not even a dynamic or dialectical nominalism. Foucault explains the relevance of the idea of an aesthetics of existence but not about what contemporary form it might take. To provide a theory of an aesthetics of existence would be to contradict the idea itself. The chapter discusses a theme, namely subjectivation. Subjectivation is invocated in the chapter as the idea of an 'aesthetic of existence'.
Abstract
This chapter first argues that Michael Foucault was a modernist and that his work, especially in its late period, was saturated with the question of aesthetics. For him, this question was connected to the ultimately ethical question of autonomy. The concept of culture haunts, most generally, Foucault's nominalism. One can argue over what kind of nominalism it was that Foucault espoused exactly. The argument of the chapter is that Foucault's nominalism was strategic, even ultimately ethical, and not just an epistemic point of view, and not even a dynamic or dialectical nominalism. Foucault explains the relevance of the idea of an aesthetics of existence but not about what contemporary form it might take. To provide a theory of an aesthetics of existence would be to contradict the idea itself. The chapter discusses a theme, namely subjectivation. Subjectivation is invocated in the chapter as the idea of an 'aesthetic of existence'.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Culture – an antinomical view 14
- 2 Adorno as educator 35
- 3 Foucault and the ethics of subjectivity 67
- 4 Bourdieu, ethics and reflexivity 103
- 5 A note on postmodern cultural theory 140
- Conclusion 154
- Index 165
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Preface and acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Culture – an antinomical view 14
- 2 Adorno as educator 35
- 3 Foucault and the ethics of subjectivity 67
- 4 Bourdieu, ethics and reflexivity 103
- 5 A note on postmodern cultural theory 140
- Conclusion 154
- Index 165
