La via critica della cura tra Jan Patočka e Michel Foucault

International audienceAccording to this paper, the notion of the care of the soul developed by Jan Patočka resonates with Foucault's notion of care of the self. The two views appear to share an ethos, that is the very ethos that Foucault recognizes as the mean feature of modern critical thought. Even though they refer to two different objects - the soul in the case of Patočka, and the self in the case of Foucault - both authors describe a practice of carewhich encourages a critical attitude towards the present and objectivity. Their aim is to question the "taken for granted" and to shake evidence. The researches around the theme of the care allow Patočka and Foucault to investigate European history and the genealogy of modern subjectivity. This analysis leads both the authors to problematize the "subject that we are" and redefines ethics as a practice of freedom that has self transformation at its core