Description
Book SynopsisIn 1980, Michel Foucault's work makes two decisive turns. On the one hand, as announced at the start of his course at the Collège de France for that year,
Le Gouvernement des vivants, his topic will be the modalities through which power constitutes itself in relation to truth. On the other, the texts on which he will concentrate will no longer be those of the early modern period. Rather, he begins with one by Dio Cassius on the emperor Septimius Severus and then proceeds to spend the next two sessions offering a reading of
Oedipus Tyrannus. He will concentrate on works from antiquity for the rest of his life. This book will offer the first detailed account of these lectures, examining both the development of their philosophical argument and the ancient texts on which that argument is based. This is the period during which Foucault also began work on Volumes 2 and 3 of the
History of Sexuality. Yet, while there are clear overlaps between the work he was presenting
Trade ReviewA convincing and nuanced study of Foucault’s engagement with classical texts ... For readers of Foucault’s late courses this is an invaluable companion. * Berfrois *
A springboard from which those interested in the ideas of the late Foucault can identify and proceed further with critical analysis. * The Classical Review *
This is an important new work by a major scholar of Foucault and the Classics. The act of reading
The History of Sexuality within the context of Foucault’s final years of teaching is convincing, poignant, and tremendously enriching. -- Charles Platter, Professor of Classics, University of Georgia, USA
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: The Government of the Living: Acts of Truth from
Oedipus to the Primitive Church Chapter 2: Subjectivity and Truth: From the Interpretation of Dreams to the Philosophic Life Chapter 3: Hermeneutics of the Subject: Spirituality,
Parrhesia, and Truth Chapter 4: The Government of the Self and Others: Truth Telling and the Real of Philosophy in Plato’s
Seventh Letter and Beyond Chapter 5: The Courage of Truth: Philosophical Life in the Face of Death Works Cited Index
