Michel Foucault's 1983 lecture at the Collège de France inaugurated research into the notion of parrêsia. In so doing, Michel Foucault continued his rereading of ancient philosophy. Through the study of this notion (truth-telling, outspokenness), Foucault reinterprets Greek citizenship, showing how the courage of truth constitutes the forgotten ethical foundation of Athenian democracy. He also describes how, with the decadence of cities, the courage of truth is transformed into a personal address to the soul of the Prince, giving Plato's seventh letter a fresh reading. Numerous topoi of ancient philosophy are revisited : the Platonic figure of the philosopher-king, the condemnation of writing, Socrates' refusal of commitment.
In this lecture, Foucault constructs a figure of the philosopher, in which he recognizes himself : by rereading the Greek thinkers, he ensures his own inclusion in philosophical modernity, problematizes his own function, and defines his mode of thinking and being.
" Modern philosophy is a practice that, in its relationship to politics, puts its reality to the test. It is a practice that finds its function of truth in the critique of illusion, deception and flattery. Finally, it is a practice that finds in the transformation of the subject by itself and of the subject by the other [its object for] exercising its practice. Philosophy as exteriority in relation to a politics that constitutes its test of reality, philosophy as critique in relation to a realm of illusion that challenges it to constitute itself as true discourse, philosophy as asceticism, that is to say, as the constitution of the subject by itself, this is what constitutes the modern being of philosophy. "
This summary is published with the kind permission of Editions du Seuil. It is taken from the back cover ofLe Gouvernement de soi et des autres. Lectures at the Collège de France (1982-1983) by Michel Foucault, published on January 24, 2008.
The sound recordings of Michel Foucault 's lectures were made by his public, notably by Gilbert Burlet, and given at the Collège de France.