Summary

The Care of the Self, third volume of French philosopher Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality, contains a few analysis that are very close to RP theory.

Body

I just finished reading the Care of the Self, third volume of French philosopher Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality. I was amazed by how close Foucault’s studies — from the first part of the book — are from RP theory and I thought a book report could be useful. The title itself (the Care of the Self) should sound familiar to most of us.

The Care of the Self is based on analysis of minor philosophers from the late Greek era (mostly from the Stoicism school of thought) and a few words about the Greek context might be necessary. The Greek word Polis means City as well as State (yes, the English Politics comes from there) and being able to take an active part in the Polis can be regarded as the highest achievement in a man’s life. Please note « in a man’s life ». Slaves aren’t free ; most of them are uneducated and can’t properly speak the language. Women aren’t considered rational beings (oh, really…) and boys or younger men aren’t ready yet.

But before a man can play an active part in the Polis, he must become a peer amongst peer. He has to make himself worthy of the City, both physically and intellectually (the inside and the appearance can’t be distinguished in the Ancient Grece). That’s why a man has to take care of himself. He has to show he can look after himself if he wants to look after his Polis.

The idea of Care of the Self as built by Foucault is an answer to this problem. Here are the most important features of the idea.

*The care of the Self isn’t a state of mind but rather something that develops through practical exercises. It takes an awful lot more than some vague daydreaming to fully experiment the care of the self. *All of these exercises are verbal or at least involve some verbalization. They have to pass the test of words : if you can’t write a thought, then it’s not a thought. *These exercises must be regular : « They must become some kind of a ritual », Foucault says.

We can count up to four different kind of exercises : *Writing about yourself (your goals, your achievements and failures) ; *Analyzing your dreams (this part is quite interesting because if it’s not Freud yet, you don’t do this to know the future anymore — as it was the case before ; the idea here is that you can get to know your desires by understanding your dreams) ; *Meditation (the goal is to memorize and internalize the principles one chose to live by) ; *Reading (with a strong priority given on Philosophy and History, for obvious reasons).

The general guideline of these is to prevent yourself from being affected by anything you’re not the source of, and that’s why Foucault draws an analogy between diseases and unwanted movements that affect your mind (false desire, weak opinion, common beliefs…). The Greek word pathos applies to both. Your Ego is what suffers from these unwanted movements. On the other hand, your Self, being the rational practice of your freedom, is what stays unaffected by what you’re not the source of.

Lesson learned

Kill you Ego but look after your Self.