Critical Spirituality: On Ethics and Politics in the Later Foucault

Abstract

Draws on Michel Foucault's later writings about aesthetics of existence to rebut claims by Jurgen Habermas that Foucault's self-defeating theory of power implies he had no particular political view. Foucault's aesthetics of existence indicates a representation of existence without recourse to moral codes or epistemological norms, ie, an ethical fabrication of existence based on a self-imposed moral code. His support for a critical ethos is argued to demonstrate a commitment to freedom & justice associated with particular practices of government. An aesthetic of existence does not necessarily imply a self-indulgent existence because it includes elements invoking concern with how one governs oneself & others, thereby fostering an individual's capacities of critical reflection on government. The aesthetics of existence is described as a constructivist or network conception of rights focused on individual or group prerogatives to resist a government they find intolerable. Foucault's personal relation to the politics of the time is discussed, maintaining that it was consistent with his ideas about aesthetic morality. 42 References. J. Lindroth