Points of Interest (digression of course) in Michel Foucault's "Technologies of the Self"

           One of the areas I found most interesting, or rather, most relevant to today’s public discourse, was Foucault’s combination of the concept of “truth games” and democracy. When defining the technologies of the self, Foucault says that individuals “effect…operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, and immortality”(italics for emphasis). As a modern democratic society, we are encouraged to care for our neighbors and build a world in which we can all prosper and live together in harmony – or at least that’s what we’d like to believe is possible. My understanding of this is that if one focuses on knowing oneself and taking care of oneself, then one can become a better citizen, well-equipped to make decisions based on one’s own truths that will benefit the whole group.  

            Foucault goes on to mention that in Plato’s apology 29e, Socrates says “in teaching people to occupy themselves with themselves, he teaches them to occupy themselves with the city.” While this notion sounds good on paper, I think there is a very fine line between knowing and caring for oneself and being consumed with knowing and caring for oneself. There is a brief nod to this when Foucault writes that “ ‘know yourself’ has obscured ‘take care of yourself’” and might perhaps agree with me that citizens often cross over into being self-indulgent in their desire to know the minute, inner-most trivial details of knowing themselves. This fixation upon the self can lead to a society that is not, as the musketeers would have it, all for one; but all for oneself.

            This self-addiction is only compounded when individuals spend time learning about their own psyches when they utilize writing as an exercise of self-reflection and discovery. On the one hand it can be used, as Foucault says, “as exercise in taking care of the self in order to reactivate for oneself the truths one needed” but does this self-affirmation make someone too self-involved? There must be guidance in this activity, as well as other modes of self-expression (dance, art, music) so that one understands the balance between life inside one’s head and life within a society. People need to know how to balance when to express mere facts and things and when to express pure feelings and emotions.

            Americans today are prescribed more medication for various forms of depression and mental health issues than any other country, a statistic I attribute to people living too much inside of their own heads. We must remember that we are striving to become more self-aware not simply for our own selfish purposes of attaining our own versions happiness, but that we can only be happy when those around us are happy and able to create a society that contributes to overall happiness of its citizens. By doing for others and learning about others, we are relinquished from the chains of living inside the self and instead take a virtual vacation from our mental worries/contemplation/musings. This helps in attaining happiness, and in turn a prosperous nation.

            I mentioned earlier my concerns regarding the “all for oneself, not all for one” attitude, and in doing so I cannot help but reflect on the current political climate of our nation. Career politicians are concerned not with those others they serve, but with the one they serve: the self (keeping one’s job, status, money). Likewise, citizens themselves have come to distrust those in power and their ability to sustain a fair and thriving nation. Based on this betrayal of people in public office, citizens then adopt an attitude whereby they can no longer trust their even their neighbor to look our for other neighbors’ best interests and thus we are developing a world in which it is “every man for himself”- the very opposite of democracy.

As an example I offer the argument surrounding property taxes and public schools. Many argue that since they have no children, or send their children to privately funded institutions, that they should not have to pay for complete strangers to receive schooling at their expense. Here, the focus is on superficially taking care of the self. In actuality, paying for strangers to receive schooling does benefit the self: it creates better educated citizens and neighbors who are able to be in positions to contribute to society as a result of their schooling. Therefore, if the “care of the self” is applied conceptually, then such individuals could realize that by taking care of others, they are ultimately taking care of themselves.  My question then would be, how can we reverse this trend (of superficially tending to the immediate needs of the self )and allow Americans to learn and care for the self while simultaneously taking what they learn from this exercise and apply it to their public lives?