The lecture entitled "Le courage de la vérité" was Michel Foucault's last at the Collège de France, from February to March 1984. He died a few months later, on June 25. This context invites us to see these lessons as a philosophical testament, all the more so as the theme of death is very present, notably through a rereading of Socrates' last words ("Criton, we owe a rooster to Aesculapius!"), which Foucault, with G. Dumézil, understands as the expression of a profound gratitude to philosophy, which cures the only serious illness: that of false opinions and prejudices .
This lecture continues and radicalizes the analyses carried out the previous year. At that time, the aim was to examine the function of "tell-true" in politics, in order to establish, for democracy, a certain number of ethical conditions irreducible to the formal rules of consensus: courage and conviction. With the Cynics, this manifestation of the truth is no longer simply a matter of risky speech, but is part of the very fabric of existence. Foucault offers a scathing study of ancient cynicism as a practical philosophy, an athleticism of truth, a public provocation, an ascetic sovereignty. The scandal of real life is then constructed as opposing Platonism and its transcendent world of intelligible Forms.
"Truth cannot be established without an essential position of otherness. Truth is never the same. There can only be truth in the form of the other world and the other life."
This summary is published with the kind permission of Editions du Seuil. It is taken from the back cover of Le Courage de la vérité. Le gouvernement de soi et des autres II. Cours au Collège de France (1983-1984) by Michel Foucault, published on January 22, 2009.
The sound recordings of Michel Foucault 's lectures were made by his public, notably by Gilbert Burlet, and given at the Collège de France.