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Speaking the Truth about Oneself: Lectures at Victoria University, Toronto, 1982
A collection of Foucault’s lectures that trace the historical formation and contemporary significance of the hermeneutics of the self.
Just before the summer of 1982, French philosopher Michel Foucault gave a series of lectures at Victoria University in Toronto. In these lectures, which were part of his project of writing a genealogy of the modern subject, he is concerned with the care and cultivation of the self, a theme that becomes central to the second, third, and fourth volumes of his History of Sexuality. Throughout his career, Foucault had always been interested in the question of how constellations of knowledge and power produce and shape subjects, and in the last phase of his life, he became especially interested not only in how subjects are formed by these forces, but in how they ethically constitute themselves.
In this lecture series and accompanying seminar, Foucault focuses on antiquity, starting with classical Greece, the early Roman Empire, and concluding with Christian monasticism in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. Foucault traces the development of a new kind of verbal practice—“speaking the truth about oneself”—in which the subject increasingly comes to be defined by its inner thoughts and desires. He deemed this new form of “hermeneutical” subjectivity important not just for historical reasons but also due to its enduring significance in modern society. Is another form of the self possible today?
Just before the summer of 1982, French philosopher Michel Foucault gave a series of lectures at Victoria University in Toronto. In these lectures, which were part of his project of writing a genealogy of the modern subject, he is concerned with the care and cultivation of the self, a theme that becomes central to the second, third, and fourth volumes of his History of Sexuality. Throughout his career, Foucault had always been interested in the question of how constellations of knowledge and power produce and shape subjects, and in the last phase of his life, he became especially interested not only in how subjects are formed by these forces, but in how they ethically constitute themselves.
In this lecture series and accompanying seminar, Foucault focuses on antiquity, starting with classical Greece, the early Roman Empire, and concluding with Christian monasticism in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. Foucault traces the development of a new kind of verbal practice—“speaking the truth about oneself”—in which the subject increasingly comes to be defined by its inner thoughts and desires. He deemed this new form of “hermeneutical” subjectivity important not just for historical reasons but also due to its enduring significance in modern society. Is another form of the self possible today?
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
18 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Michel Foucault
763 books6,482 followersPaul-Michel Foucault was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationships between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions. Though often cited as a structuralist and postmodernist, Foucault rejected these labels. His thought has influenced academics, especially those working in communication studies, anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminology, cultural studies, literary theory, feminism, Marxism and critical theory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory.
Born in Poitiers, France, into an upper-middle-class family, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV, at the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed an interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser, and at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he earned degrees in philosophy and psychology. After several years as a cultural diplomat abroad, he returned to France and published his first major book, The History of Madness (1961). After obtaining work between 1960 and 1966 at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, he produced The Birth of the Clinic (1963) and The Order of Things (1966), publications that displayed his increasing involvement with structuralism, from which he later distanced himself. These first three histories exemplified a historiographical technique Foucault was developing called "archaeology".
From 1966 to 1968, Foucault lectured at the University of Tunis before returning to France, where he became head of the philosophy department at the new experimental university of Paris VIII. Foucault subsequently published The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969). In 1970, Foucault was admitted to the Collège de France, a membership he retained until his death. He also became active in several left-wing groups involved in campaigns against racism and human rights abuses and for penal reform. Foucault later published Discipline and Punish (1975) and The History of Sexuality (1976), in which he developed archaeological and genealogical methods that emphasized the role that power plays in society.
Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV/AIDS; he became the first public figure in France to die from complications of the disease. His partner Daniel Defert founded the AIDES charity in his memory.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 4, 2021
Книга продолжает трилогию лекций в Коллеж де Франс, посвященных античной заботе о себе, и Лекции о парессии. Название слегка вводит в заблуждение. Новых тем, в том числе заглавной, в этой, пятой, книге нет. Это компенсируется привычной мудростью Фуко. Ясность изложения и погружения в тему кажутся блистателтными, дистация к предмету - невероятно точной. Кроме лекций есть семинары, где ведется обсуждение с участниками. Эту книгу я прочитал первой, не читая, предыдущих четырех. Такой порядок не самый удачный. Лучше начать с трилогии, которая представляется более продуманной и подготовленной на французском.
July 4, 2023
В целом полезная и интересная местами книга, но как минимум на треть, а то и на половину состоит из повторов. Один из семинаров, который посередине, по-моему, скорее вода. Жаль, что Фуко так и не развёртывает свою мысль об аскезе в сколь-нибудь полноценное повествование.
November 1, 2021
je suis :-|
April 13, 2017
Retranscription des conférences de l'université Victoria de Toronto, prononcées pendant l'écriture de "L'Histoire de la sexualité".
En se fondant essentiellement sur l'étude des textes antiques (romains, mais surtout grecs), Foucault tente de retracer la généalogie de l'idée de "souci de soi", ses rapports avec "la connaissance de soi" (le fameux "Connais-toi toi-même") et la manière dont la civilisation chrétienne naissante l'infléchit jusqu'à voir dans le "souci de soi" la plus grande des manifestations d'immoralité.
Le texte, qui superpose les différentes versions et traductions qui ont été produites, met en lumière les modalités du travail du philosophe, ses hésitations, ses erreurs, ses errements.
Passionnant.
En se fondant essentiellement sur l'étude des textes antiques (romains, mais surtout grecs), Foucault tente de retracer la généalogie de l'idée de "souci de soi", ses rapports avec "la connaissance de soi" (le fameux "Connais-toi toi-même") et la manière dont la civilisation chrétienne naissante l'infléchit jusqu'à voir dans le "souci de soi" la plus grande des manifestations d'immoralité.
Le texte, qui superpose les différentes versions et traductions qui ont été produites, met en lumière les modalités du travail du philosophe, ses hésitations, ses erreurs, ses errements.
Passionnant.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews