the care of the self

In the lectures from The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Foucault discusses the theme of the relations between the subject and the truth. He introduces an ancient concept common in ancient Grecian society, the notion of epimeleia heautou, which means “care for oneself.” This notion is linked to another notion, gnothi seauton, or “know yourself.”

The two expressions go hand in hand as to know oneself, one must have care for themselves as well. To take care of yourself you must also know who you are, or “know yourself.”

He mentions Socrates as the main character in ancient Greek philosophy who really paid attention to these principles. He is described as a man who would stop people, old or young, and challenging them with questions to determine how much they knew themselves, and how much they were concerned with their selves.

The way Foucault interprets such notion is as a “desire for radical change, a sort of moral dandyism..” In opposition to the epimeleia heautou is the Christian principle of self-renunciation, the obligation towards others for the common good.

In the Socratic notion taking care of others is impossible if we do not first attend to ourselves, as I will explain later.

According to Foucault, the Cartesian approach is what caused for the epimeleia heautou to be “obliterated.” The “know yourself” instead became fundamental for any access to truth.

There is an intricate link between spirituality and philosophy when it comes to knowledge, access to the truth. The spirituality of subjectivity presumes that the person must change in order to access knowledge, that he must go through a transformation. The truth then gives beatitude to the subject. What gives access to the truth, is knowledge, therefore to “know oneself” is a necessary step towards gaining such access.

Such link was then destroyed by Theology, according to Foucault, who claims that it caused for access to truth no longer to be connected to the “spiritual necessity of the subject’s work on himself.”

Nineteenth century philosophy however still seems very much influenced by such “spirituality of subjectivity”, and there is a rediscovery of the “care of the self.”

The idea of spirituality as a condition for access to the truth is also interpreted in social terms, when discussing the subject’s class or political position, and whether these make him prepared to access the knowledge of, for example, Marxism or psychoanalysis.

Foucault then focuses in particular on the Socratic-Platonic moment, which is the first of three periods of philosophical reflection (the second is the period of the golden age of the culture of the self, while the third is the Christian asceticism, clearly opposed to the care of oneself.)

In the Socratic-platonic moment, the notion of care for oneself is first introduced. It was linked to a privilege, economic, social, or political. He takes as an example Alcibiades, and how Socrates demonstrates that he does not know how to achieve his goals, and it is because he doesn’t attend to himself. Without wealth or education, Alcibiades cannot govern a city, and guarantee the wellbeing of his citizens. Socrates helps Alcibiades see that what he is not aware of is exactly the object which he wants to take care of, or in this case, politics. He must take care of himself.