Artistic Parrhesia and the Genealogy of Ethics in Foucault and Benjamin

Abstract

In The Use of Pleasure, Michel Foucault suggests that it is possible to read Walter Benjamin’s writings on Baudelaire as a contribution to a genealogy of ethics. This article experiments with reading Benjamin in this way. It shows that a distinctive analysis of each of the four elements of Foucauldian ethics (ethical substance, mode of subjectivation, ethical practice and telos) can be found in Benjamin’s work on Baudelaire and the Paris arcades. Specifically, the article makes the case for reading Benjamin in terms of his valuable contribution to understandings of the role played by art in modern forms of ‘parrhesia’, or courageous truth-telling. However, whereas Foucault’s notion of ‘arts of living’ focuses on challenging actual relations of power, Benjamin’s focuses on activating potential forms of power. In this way, Benjamin’s ethical framework tests the limits of Foucault’s conceptualization of the government of self and others.

Engines of alternative objectivity: Re-articulating the nature and value of participatory mental health organisations with the Hearing Voices Movement and Stepping Out Theatre Company

“…It is in this light that we propose the Hearing Voices Movement's 'experiential authority' (Blencowe, 2013a;Brigstocke, 2013a;Dawney, 2013;Noorani, 2013) is predicated upon a collective knowledge of experience at the limits of intelligibility. The movement encourages an engagement with the distress caused by voice-hearing through experimental projects aimed at deepening understandings of oneself and one's voices (Intervoice, 2013b(Intervoice, , 2013c.…”

“…Building on recent work on the role of performance in mental health practices (e.g. Williams, 1998) and on the capacity of performance to generate new forms of authority and objectivity ( Brigstocke, 2012 , 2013 , 2014 ; Millner 2013 ) we now turn to a second case study to complement our analysis of participatory practice in the Hearing Voices Movement. Stepping Out Theatre Company is a registered charity based in Bristol, UK, where mental health service users have collaborated in putting on theatrical productions since 1997.…”

A sociological (Re)construction of the reflexive self: A convergence between Foucault and classical Confucian ethics

“…According to Rabinow (2009) and Kosmala and McKernan (2011), the Foucauldian perspective of the self contains inextricable relations both to the reflexive self and to others, in contrast to the false claim that it is narcissistic and lacks a relational dimension to others (Brigstocke, 2013).…”

“…It must be noted that the integrated approach is not neutral; to take a neutral position is to stand between two positionings (Zhao, 2010). Instead, my approach requires that all positionings be admitted with constant reflection and the ability to speak truth to power (Brigstocke, 2013; Foucault, 2003a).…”

Resisting with authority? Anarchist laughter and the violence of truth

“…As Legg (2019:29) notes, the vast majority of acts of parrhesia discussed by Foucault do not constitute any kind of straightforward example of resistance. Instead, he explores connections between ethical concerns around the government of the self and political issues concerning the government of others (Macmillan, 2011;Brigstocke, 2013). In contrast to the truth-telling of the expert, parrhesia is a verbal activity where a speaker expresses a personal relationship to truth, and puts herself at risk because she recognizes truth-telling as a duty to improve or help other people as well as herself (Foucault, 2001: 20).…”