Confessions of the Flesh: "The Late Michel Foucault"

M.A. Lektüreseminar in English, Summer Semester 2023, Thursday 14:00-16:00

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Thinkers and their oeuvre are not monolithic structures. They evolve and morph into new forms just as the circumstances in which they do their research change. Sometimes these shifts have rather dramatic meaning and become synonymous with larger changes, like scientific ‘turns’ or even paradigmatic breaks, so we talk, for instance, about ‘late Wittgenstein’. There’s a particular kind of drama to ‘late Michel Foucault’. Originally a post-structuralist prophet of ‘the death of the subject’, who revealed insidious power of anonymous social discourses that defined ‘Western modernity’, Foucault refocused his work towards individual ethics and personalized ‘hermeneutics of the subject’ rooted deeply in ancient philosophies. It happened around the time when this famed ‘analyst of finitude’ began to face his own death. He then endeavored to ‘generally re-center’ the original plans for his ‘History of Sexuality’ and vigorously re-inscribed the notions of ‘cultivation of the self’ and confessional ‘truth telling’ within this research program. Why and how did he do it? With what effects? Why should social scientists care today about his ‘decentering’ move towards the individual ’art of living’ and the guidance it required – ‘the art of arts’?

This advanced Lektüreseminar revolves around these questions, starting from some key insights formulated in ‘Subjectivity & Truth’ (1980-1981) and ‘The Hermeneutics of the Subject’ (1981–1982), two series of lectures he delivered at College de France where he was the professor of the history of systems of thought. They paved the way for ‘The Use of Pleasure’ and ‘The Care of the Self’ (Volume II & III of ‘The History of Sexuality’ respectively, both published in 1984 right before his death). The course then moves to ‘Confessions of the Flesh’ (aka Volume IV of ‘History of Sexuality’) which was in fact drafted before Volumes II and III and which Foucault was still editing on his death bed but did not complete. It was published posthumously – and only recently (French original in 2018, English in 2021). It revisits some of the key early Christian treatises – bridges between late antiquity and early mediaeval period. The analysis of these volumes of ‘History of Sexuality’ will be complemented by close readings of the last two series of College de France Lectures (‘The Government of Self and Others’ 1982-1983 & 'The Courage of Truth’ 1983-1984), as well as by Foucault’s other final lectures, especially the ones that explicitly thematize the notion of parresia – his last key concept. This whole body of work is perhaps Foucault’s deepest engagement with historical sources of Western philosophy, and it profoundly informed different transformative discourses of late twentieth century, from Charles Taylor’s “Sources of the Self” to James Scott’s “Arts of Resistance” to Edward Said’s analysis of intellectuals’ duty of “speaking truth to power”.  At the same time, and beyond that, it has decisively impacted what is seen as crucial concerns of today, from the notions of self-realization and self-optimization to the issues of sexual identity and mental health.