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Foucault, Education, the Self and Modernity
Author(s) -
WAIN KENNETH
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9752.1996.tb00405.x
Subject(s) - modernity , constitution , power (physics) , sociology , self governance , self , michel foucault , corporate governance , governmentality , epistemology , pedagogy , law , political science , philosophy , politics , management , physics , quantum mechanics , economics
Michel Foucault is often criticised in English‐speaking circles for being interested only in power as domination, and of being uninterested in freedom and social reform. This paper shows, however, that Foucault's overarching concern was with the constitution of the self under conditions of modernity. It emphasises the significance of his interest in the Classical project of ‘Self‐care’, and of his countermodernist educational programme in which the skills of self‐governance and the ethical (non‐dominating) governance of others, as well as the practice of freedom through self‐creation, are the key ingredients.