Naslov
The care of self: is it perpetuating neoliberalism?

Autori
Krce-Ivančić, Matko

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Government of Self, Government of Others: Ethical and Political Questions in the Late Foucault

Mjesto i datum
New University of Lisbon, Lisabon, Portugal, 06-08.03.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
ethics ; Foucault ; neoliberalism ; productive crisis ; Spivak ; subject

Sažetak
Discussing the Cynics' practice of the truth, Foucault (1984: 315) argues ''the Cynic life is not just to say and show what the world is in its truth. Its aim, its final aim, is to show that the world will be able to get back to its truth […] only at the price of a change, a complete alteration, the complete change and alteration in the relation one has to self. And the source of the transition to that other world promised by Cynicism is found in this return of self to self, in this care of self''. Contextualised, the care of self is standing as a sort of autonomous outcome of what Foucault (1984: 9) introduces as a ''triple theoretical shift - from the theme of acquired knowledge to that of veridiction, from the theme of domination to that of governmentality, and from the theme of the individual to that of the practices of self'', the analysis of relations between power, truth and subject he is undertaking. However, a common critique, usually coming from the authors inclined to Marxist approaches, tends to portray Foucault's ethical position as perpetuating neoliberalism, arguing that ''paradoxically, theorists, who in the Foucauldian fashion cherish the anti- essentialist attitude and the subversion of fixed identity, do not see that contemporary capitalism […] 'needs' the subject who constantly questions his or her identity, changes sexual roles, and is above all primarily concerned with making his or her life 'a work of art''' (Salecl, 2002: 3). Such critique becomes almost paradigmatic in contemporary critical theory and it is exactly such position that Sloterdijk (2013: 152) exposes as a ''critical kitsch, which sees domination in every form of 'self-control', and immediately suspects any discipline in one's way of life of being a self-repression that doubles an external repression'', thereby arguing from the other end of the reception of Foucault's late thought. In this paper, I follow both strands of argumentation to their limits, without disqualifying or conflating these two competing portrayals of the aesthetics of subject, thus bringing them to what Spivak (1990) understands as a 'productive crisis'. I argue that Foucault was not trying to subvert neoliberal discourse, as he understood that neoliberal discourse enables contemporary subjectivity, but supervert it through self-discipline, a particular aesthetics of existence. However, at the same time, I challenge the viability of Foucault's superverting ethical position by examining Marxist claims that such aesthetics of existence is necessarily resignified to serve neoliberal ends or is at least overly close to neoliberal ideals. Against contemporary tendency of reducing or disqualifying competing perspectives on late Foucault's work, which often results in a plain crisis of his late ideas, this paper aims to clarify the care of self, underscoring its distinctiveness and actuality in the field of contemporary ethics. Bibliography: Foucault, M. [1984] (2010) The Government of Self and Others: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1982-1983, Gros, F. (ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Salecl, R. (2002) The Spoils of Freedom. Psychoanalysis and feminism after the fall of socialism. London: Routledge Sloterdijk, P. (2013) You Must Change Your Life. On Anthropotechnics. Cambridge: Polity Spivak, G. C. (1990) The post-colonial critic: interviews, strategies and dialogues, Harasym, S. (ed.). New York: Routledge

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

Napomena
Ustanova: University of Manchester, Manchester,
Velika Britanija. Ovaj rad podupiru: ‘President’s
Doctoral Scholar Award’ i ‘School of Social
Sciences PhD Studentship’ (dodjeljuje: Sociology,
School of Social Sciences, University of
Manchester), i ‘Economic and Social Sciences
Research Council North West Doctoral Training
Centre Studentship [grant number ES/J500094/1]’.

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