Ethics of the care of the self and discourses of truth (Ordinario)

The ethics of the care of the self is a form of moral reflection that was recently developed by some authors (Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot): it suggests that ethics can be understood as a practice of self-transformation of the subject. The course will explore the role of some discourses of truth whitin this ethics: in particular, it will aim to highlight the function of the discourses of truth that the subject is led to give on himself and the different effects these have on the processes of subjectivation. Discourses of confession, parrhesia, and the practices of writing on the self will be examined in order to show the effects of power and subjection they can produce or, conversely, the positive role they can play in an ethics of the care of the self.