The aesthetics of existence in the work of Michel Foucault

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5780993
AutoresMarli Huijer (Universiteit, Faculty of Medicine, Philosophy and Medical Ethics, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen25
Número2
Páginas61-85
Fecha de publicación1999-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPhilosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/019145379902500204
OpenAlexW2158350398
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas12

Foucault's analysis of an aesthetics of existence is presented as an instrument to practice ethical thought without the presupposition of an autonomous subject. The implications of Foucault's aesthetics of existence for ethical thought are traced to the work of Nietzsche. In Foucault's work, experiences of oneself are not a given, but are constituted in power relations and true-and-false games. In the interplay of truths and power relations, the individual constitutes a certain relationship to him- or herself. Foucault designated the relation to oneself and one's existence as the main area of ethical concern and the most important field where aesthetic values are to be applied. In his aesthetics of existence, he invited the individual to prob lematize the relationship with the self and by using 'self-techniques' to transform it into a work of art. The relation to intimate others, shaped as friendship, is crucial to this ethical-aesthetic approach

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Friendship · Immanence · Michel foucault · Politics · Power (physics) · Presupposition · Relation (database) · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents) · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Studies