{"product_id":"on-the-government-of-the-living-lectures-at-the-collge-de-france-1979-1980-9781250081612","title":"On the Government of the Living: Lectures at the Coll?ge de France, 1979-1980","description":"\u003ch2\u003eFoucault's Lectures on Truth, Power, and Self-Examination\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nIn these 1980 lectures, Michel Foucault delivers a significant contribution to his history of \"regimes of truth,\" examining how power structures demand not just obedience but active participation in truth-telling procedures. This volume captures Foucault's exploration of why individuals subject to power relations must become subjects in procedures of truth-telling about themselves.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eCore Philosophical Examination\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nFoucault investigates the ethical domain of practices and techniques of the self, building upon his earlier work on knowledge-power and governmentality. The lectures address fundamental questions: How does the exercise of power as government require \"truth acts\" from individuals? Why must subjects not only tell the truth, but specifically tell the truth about themselves?\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFrom Sophocles to Early Christianity\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nThese questions lead to a re-reading of Sophocles' \u003ci\u003eOedipus the King\u003c\/i\u003e before moving to an examination of early Christian texts. Through detailed analysis of Tertullian, Cassian, and other early Christian writers, Foucault analyzes 'truth acts' in baptism, penance, and spiritual direction. The lectures reveal how believers were called upon to manifest truth about themselves as subjects perpetually at risk of sin.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Emergence of Confession\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nFoucault traces the organization of a pastoral system centered on confession through public expression of the subject's sinful condition, rituals of repentance and penance, and detailed verbalization of thoughts in conscience examination. This analysis provides crucial insights into the historical formation of Western subjectivity and power relations.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cb\u003eMichel Foucault\u003c\/b\u003e, acknowledged as the preeminent philosopher of France in the 1970s and 1980s, continues to have enormous impact throughout the world in many disciplines. His many works include \u003ci\u003eMadness and Civilization\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDiscipline and Punish\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe History of Sexuality\u003c\/i\u003e trilogy. He died in 1984.\n\nArnold I. Davidson is a professor at the University of Chicago and the University of Pisa. He is co-editor of the volume Michel Foucault: Philosophie.\n\nGraham Burchell is the translator, and has written essays on Michel Foucault. He is an Editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Foucault Effect\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Picador USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50680842354962,"sku":"9781250081612","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9f8b76d5-4336-4e3e-8bd7-6a648fd4278d.jpg?v=1733943808","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/on-the-government-of-the-living-lectures-at-the-collge-de-france-1979-1980-9781250081612","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}