Political Sensitivity and Performativity of Ethical Education

Abstract

Foucault said that governing is shaping the conduct of individuals: more broadly, says Michel Feher, specific modes of government have established throughout history different representations of the human condition, shaping values, aspirations, and ways of being. Now, the sensitivity inherent to neoliberalism is characterized by the reinforcement of narcissism, by little attention to the other, by indifference. The article presents the answer that Judith Butler and Athena Athanasiou offer to this framework, based on a radical critique of the theory of recognition and the figure of the owner, «sovereign and unitary subject», who thinks he has assured safety and comfort. Their defense of the political performativity of the precarious situation - a condition that, after all, we all share - opens undoubtedly the way for thinking about ethical education today.