"Ethics and Antiquity: Anticipating Postmodernity"

Citation:

David, Luis S. 2011. “"Ethics and Antiquity: Anticipating Postmodernity"”. Life and Culture Studies 22:79-103. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/yjrpysvp

Abstract:

Michel Foucault gives an account of the shift from the sovereign or judicial, to the disciplinary mode of power in which individuals find themselves imbedded within networks of dependencies specified by "norms' that measure individual performance according to the principles of equivalency (solidarity) and difference ("ab-normality"). Individuals, therefore, must not understand themselves as finally ensnared or trapped by the specific distribution of power within which they find themselves. Under determinate conditions and according to precise strategies, they can always modify power's grip upon themselves. Foucault finds interesting prototypes for this in the ethical practices of ancient Greece that, in his view, satisfied the human desire for rules and form at the same time that they gave scope to the human impatience for liberty. Foucault turns to them in his late work, believing that they may have something to offer in place of modern moral philosophy.

Last updated on 05/27/2014