The Greek Care of the Self in Foucault and the Athenian Democracy

Yıl 2017, Sayı: 16, 40 - 52, 01.06.2017

Gürkan Ergin

Öz

For a few centuries in Classical Greece, Michel Foucault claimed, people were able to shape their lives according to the principles of beauty, and to “constitute” themselves instead of “discovering” themselves. They achieved this through specific practices conducted by the self on the self to attain a state of happiness, wisdom and moderation. The thinker largely ignores, however, the close relationship between this care of the self and the Athenian democratic mechanism, focusing instead only the process itself. He also argues that these practices were only confined to the future potential leaders of Athens and that they were in essence an aristocratic occupation. This paper aims to prove the opposite, that these “technologies of the self ” were encouraged by speeches and several democratic developments in order to make them more accessible to the general population, and to highlight their organic connection with the Athenian democratic practices, which Foucault barely discusses.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Michel Foucault, Athenian democracy, care of the self, subject, homosexuality

Kaynakça

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