Michel Foucault and I agreed to meet on top of the heavenly
reflection of
Between two
drags from his scentless Gaulloise, Michel draws a pocketbook from underneath his coat and hands it to me. Is this what I think it is? The third volume of his renowned History of Sexuality, The Care of the Self (Le Souci de soi), was not meant to be the last: Confession of the Flesh (Les Aveux de la chair) - or the "unborn fourth" - was left incomplete, privately held in the Foucault archive up to these days. It is now also held in
Michel: The reason is quite simple, really.
With The Care of the Self, I wanted to examine how the way the individual makes use of his (you'll pardon me, the texts I reference very rarely refer to female individuals) - of his body and mind starts to take up a moral stance throughout the two first centuries of our era. Artémidorus's interpretation of dreams reflects principles of an appreciation of a specific sexual conduct. As I write in the book, these principles underlie Artemidorus' analysis of sexual dreams. In this type of oneirocritica, the social position (and sometimes, the physical condition) of the dreamer in relation to that of his sexual partner matters more than the sexual act itself. It is thus possible to witness an evident correlation between sexual and social scenes. For instance, Artemidorus will only imply that it is a bad or a good omen to dream of a sexual intercourse with a person who occupies a given social status (penetration being the only conceivable sexual intercourse), without ever referring to the concept of morality. To properly answer your question, I would say that this opening chapter serves to remind the reader of the fact that sexual experience is, at the time, still very much understood in classical terms: the value of sexual acts, in many instances, is defined by the social position of those who engage in them. This first chapter hints on this idea that while the subject is still understood in terms of his place in society - as a citizen - his individuality becomes also "subject" to scrutiny. The sphere of citizenship is thus extended, and starts permeating the private sphere; an honourable citizen must have an honourable conduct when out in the city (or city-state) as well as in his dreams.
Michel: Certainly. Before beginning my analysis of these other texts, I wanted to spend some time clarifying this notion of the "culture of the self", which is also the name of my second chapter. I wanted to see how I could connect a growing sexual austerity with a more and more intensive relationship to the self. Indeed, I found out that it is not through the tightening of a legal or religious code that sexual prohibition seems to take place, but because the individual starts to see himself as subject of his actions. Through my examination of Seneca and Epictetus's texts, I got to see this culture of the self as a veritable art of self-knowledge - "art de la connaissance de soi". Each individual, according to these authors, is expected to be taking care of his self: there is no age, not a moment or a situation more appropriate than another: it must be a perpetual exercise. It is possible to point to three main components of this art of self-knowledge: (i) knowing how to live without luxury, through abstinence, (ii) regularly subject oneself to a thorough examination of one's conscience, (iii) be in constant control of oneself. Again, I want to stress that this culture of the self didn't emerge as a result of a solidification of the law or religious codes; this change concerns the way the individual comes to see himself as responsible for constituting himself as a moral subject.
Florence: You spoke about - excuse me the
rephrasing - the importance of the individual to place himself as an honorable subject in the realm of the community; can we now go more in depth into the complex relationship between social position and identity - a problem that you investigate in your third chapter, "Self and Others"?
Michel: I would say that it is by observing
the changes occurring on the marital and the political scenes that it is most practical to account for this relationship between self and others. For instance, the evolution of marriage from a private to a public institution has the effect of interrogating this institution as a way of life; marriage becomes more and more about a healthy relationship between partners. One also notes a drastic evolution concerning the way politics is understood: one shouldn't feel obliged to actively participate in the life of the city-state, and if one does, one should bear in mind that he has to be a moral example to others, and know when his time has come to withdraw from the public scene. In public life as well as in married life, the growing concern for one's control over one's self can also be understood as a crisis of subjectivation.
Michel: It is interesting how philosophy
and medicine elaborate very similar discourses on aphrodisia - sexual pleasures. Both agree on the fact that to take care of one's self correctly, one has to pay attention to the health of the mind and the body: the unhealthiness of the body will result in the degenerescence of the mind, and vice-versa. The aphrodisia start to be comprehended as existing only for the purpose of reproduction, possibly detrimental to one's constitution when not refrained enough. Highly specific recommandations and precepts are developed by doctors (such as Galen) and philosophers as to what a good sexual conduct should be. These recommandations and precepts can't however be assimilated to a Christian moral: they are expected to be integrated within the experience the subject makes of his self.
Michel: It means that marriage is now more
about the bond between spouses than it is about economical arrangement. As far as the husband is concerned, a principle of moderation is to be respected: reciprocity, more than control over others, becomes the new duty. The art of married life takes shape through precepts - a lot of them developed by the Stoics. This way of life starts forming as a strong model, advertised as conform to nature and socially useful - beneficial to everyone's good. It is through marriage that man finds his rational form. And it is only through marriage that one can establish a satisfying relationship to one's self - the aphrodisia of course being subject to another form of scrutiny.
Michel: Ah, this is an interesting question.
I recently had a discussion about this with Deleuze. I won't expand too much on this, but referring to his idea of detachment (décrochement) which engenders a folding, a reflection (un plissement, une réflexion), I would say that you can see my text as an edification of a facultative rule - the rule for facultatively commanding oneself, as a free man, and of course, as a free woman, or whoever you happen to be as a human being.
It seems that Michel never ceased to use his time wisely since he left us. He has plenty of it to take care of his self, plenty of friends to share his reflections with. When I asked him if he still considered himself as a human-being, he frowned and, looking at the fog down below, responded with another question:
"Do you
consider yourself a human-being?"
"We're
not in heaven, are we?", I said, hyper-dubitatively. Here, another question.
"Surely
you don't need to ask me. Rather, ask yourself the following: why have I come up here? You could as well be talking to yourself right now."
Maybe I should have gone through the effort of climbing
I really like your format in this review, Flolou. Did you find your approach to be helpful in understanding the book? Would you recommend this approach to others?
Do you see any connections between "the care of the self" and troublemaking? Also, how do you think Foucault would answer if you asked him if we were a troublemaker or if he engaged in troublemaking practices?
Yes, I really enjoyed calling upon my creative skills. At some point I got so caught up that I almost saw myself on Mount Olympus with Foucault in front of me! I think it is indeed much more fun to add something original to a review, to make it more lively. And perhaps it would appeal more to other students of the class, it would enhance everyone's curiosity about everyone else's work. So I would definitely recommend this type of approach.
I would say that "the care of the self" is troublemaking for the the self. By that, I mean that cultivating an art of self-knowledge implies a regular shaking up of a good deal of one's established understandings of the world, of one's well-ingrained habits - it thus implies an enlightened questioning of one's own ethics. I do believe that in a capitalist society which totally neglects the well-being of individuals and is very detrimental to the community, the importance of the care of the self has to be reasserted - bearing in mind that this relation to the self has to be thought of as in line with our relationship with others (it has to be ethical), as opposed to a withdrawal into oneself.
Although I doubt he would put it this way, Foucault might say that he was a troublemaker insofar as to be a troublemaker, you have to be able to see further than the tip of your nose and be willing to share and explain what you see in the distance. The more unconventional, I guess, the better. Foucault certainly saw things few people could even barely discern at the time (I mentioned his talent as a visionary in my review - I maintain this point). I'm particularly thinking of his very innovative understanding of sexuality, which is the work I know best, and which stands by itself as a radical reconsideration of theorizing. Not only did he disrupt the frames within which minds, in this Western contemporary society, are so used to thinking, but the structure of the new approaches he proposed were extremely solid and consistent. Finally, if I consider Foucault as both a person and a work – from what I know of course - I see a continuity. Relating this to "the care of the self", Foucault seems to have applied to himself, to his own existence, the ethics and principles which he defended in his works – which I believe isn’t so commonplace for an author. Although he was very sick at the end of his life, he kept writing and teaching, still very much concerned with expanding his own knowledge and the knowledge of others. So yes, I do believe Foucault was a real troublemaker, in the most noble sense of the term.