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Foucault on the Care of the Self as an Ethical Project and a Spiritual Goal

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Abstract

In this paper, I examine Foucault’s ideas concerning the care of the self. What exactly is this ideal that Foucault describes in his last two books? Do these books represent a break or a continuation with the earlier writings on knowledge and power? Most important, I consider whether the care of the self could ever be a significant ethical ideal given some of the objections that have been raised against Foucault’s position. I also look at the care of the self as the focus of Foucault’s own views on spiritual life. I argue that Foucault’s later work offers the basis for a secular or non-theistic spirituality which is especially relevant today.

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Notes

  1. See also Foucault’s discussion of Gregory of Nyssa’s treatise “De Virginitate” and his interpretation of the parable of the drachma (1988: 21).

  2. For further discussion of this, see McGushin (2011: 127–142); O’Leary (2002).

  3. On the complex relationship between Foucault and existentialism, see Seitz (2012).

  4. See, for example, the discussion of this point in two recent review essays: Boyle (2012); Karras (2000).

  5. For further discussion of the nature of spirituality along these lines, see Sheldrake (2012), White (2013), and Gottlieb (2013).

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA

    Richard White

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Correspondence to Richard White.

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White, R. Foucault on the Care of the Self as an Ethical Project and a Spiritual Goal. Hum Stud 37, 489–504 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-014-9331-3

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