MICHEL FOUCAULT SUR LE SOUCI DE SOI CHEZ PLATON ET LES NÉOPLATONICIENS
MICHEL FOUCAULT ON CARE OF THE SELF IN PLATO AND THE NEOPLATONISTS

Summary/Abstract: Analyzing the concept of care of the self in ancient Greco-Roman culture, Foucault pays special attention to Plato and the Neoplatonists. From his point of view, the first great elaboration of the concept of care of the self is found in the Platonic dialogues, and the Neoplatonists fit, in general, into the same theoretical framework established by Plato. Of course, due to the historical evolution of philosophical thought and collective mentality, Neoplatonists differ from Plato through some important aspects of their conception of care of the self. But these, though are clear enough to give the Neoplatonists an undoubted originality, nevertheless fail to give their theoretical position a radically different configuration from that of Plato. Therefore, what is essential in the concept of care of the self in Plato is kept intact in the Neoplatonists. In short, it's about the (approximate) identity between care of the self and self-knowledge, as well as about the access, through them, to the truth, by which reveals to the soul, that is, to that self that knows itself and takes care of itself, that it is of the same nature as divinity. These elements constitute a unity which, according to Foucault, will not be found as such in any other philosophical tradition of Antiquity. The conclusion is that although Michel Foucault analyzes only one dialogue of Plato, namely Alcibiades, as well as only the Neoplatonists' comments on it, all aspects that he highlights manage to give sufficient coherence and credibility to his hypothesis.

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