The Use of Pleasure
Foucault examines Greek ethical practices concerning pleasures, the body and self-conduct. He studies how subjects relate to rules and form themselves morally in a world marked by gender and status hierarchies.
Understanding the text
The second volume appeared in 1984 and moved the inquiry toward ancient Greece and a history of ethical practices. Its sources and selection of texts have been debated.
Key points
- 01
Problematization
Practices become moral questions through specific contexts and categories.
- 02
Relation to self
Ethical conduct includes exercises and self-relations, not only obedience to a code.
- 03
Hierarchy
The prescriptions often address free men and do not describe universal freedom.
How to read it
Trace one ancient prescription and ask whom it addresses and whose voices are absent from the source.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗