Dear Bradley:
This this might be a good article:
Review author[s]: David M. Halperin
"Sexual Ethics and Technologies of the Self in Classical
Greece: L'usage des plaisirs = Histoire de la sexualite 2"
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 107, No. 2. (Summer,
1986), pp. 274-286
I found it on JSTOR, which should be availabe through any
university library.
Maybe what you noticed, and I missed, is a development in
which Foucault finds the concept of the technologies of the
self in his study of the Greeks but soon applies it at a much
higher theoretical level. But I'm not sure my chronology is
straight.
My own sense is that the technologies of the self are part
of Foucault's late focus on the subject, and represent his
intuition that there are self-to-self power relations which
can help persons adapt to or resist larger power structures.
It's the resistance of actual persons, it turns out, that
provides a clue about how epistemes and power regimes change
over time. Foucault had been criticized for not having an
explanation of change.
Foucault simoultaneously worked on the self-to-self
knowledge relations which parallel the self-directed practices
and which define the hermeneutucs of the subject. The the
personal regimen and self-interpretation together represent
techniques of subject-formation and resistance.
To me, it's the links between the "Parrhesia" lectures, the
"History of Sexuality" Vol. 2 and 3, and the newly published
"Hermeneutics of the Subject" lectures (which I haven't read
yet) that put the material in the "Technologies of the Self"
volume in their larger context.
Hope this helps,
Peter
Peter Winston Fettner
Department of Philosophy,
Intellectual Heritage Program
Temple University
This this might be a good article:
Review author[s]: David M. Halperin
"Sexual Ethics and Technologies of the Self in Classical
Greece: L'usage des plaisirs = Histoire de la sexualite 2"
The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 107, No. 2. (Summer,
1986), pp. 274-286
I found it on JSTOR, which should be availabe through any
university library.
Maybe what you noticed, and I missed, is a development in
which Foucault finds the concept of the technologies of the
self in his study of the Greeks but soon applies it at a much
higher theoretical level. But I'm not sure my chronology is
straight.
My own sense is that the technologies of the self are part
of Foucault's late focus on the subject, and represent his
intuition that there are self-to-self power relations which
can help persons adapt to or resist larger power structures.
It's the resistance of actual persons, it turns out, that
provides a clue about how epistemes and power regimes change
over time. Foucault had been criticized for not having an
explanation of change.
Foucault simoultaneously worked on the self-to-self
knowledge relations which parallel the self-directed practices
and which define the hermeneutucs of the subject. The the
personal regimen and self-interpretation together represent
techniques of subject-formation and resistance.
To me, it's the links between the "Parrhesia" lectures, the
"History of Sexuality" Vol. 2 and 3, and the newly published
"Hermeneutics of the Subject" lectures (which I haven't read
yet) that put the material in the "Technologies of the Self"
volume in their larger context.
Hope this helps,
Peter
Peter Winston Fettner
Department of Philosophy,
Intellectual Heritage Program
Temple University