Foucault's "Self Cultivation" In His Late Years--As A Philosophy Of Aesthetics Of Existence

In ancient times, self-concerning is not only a life principle of philosophers, but also the focus of their thinking and lives. This thesis is inspired by this issue. This thesis first describes the forms and characteristics of self-concerning in different periods of ancient times and proposes that we should understand the meaning of self-concerning comprehensively. Self-concerning can not only make oneself perfect completely, but inadvertently bring some benefit to the society. Meanwhile, self-concerning is also a performance of morality. Then it comes to Foucault's "self-cultivation." Foucault believes that the "self" in "self cultivation" is the subject's own creation, not to be given, and it is not to be constructed. The core of "self-cultivation" is self-concerning. In order to explain the self-concerning further, this thesis begins with the concepts of "save" and "confess", and concludes that the subject must tell the truth because the truth-telling is a condition of self-saving. While concerning about oneself, one must handle the relationship between others-concerning and self-concerning, but in the care of others, one must focus on themselves. Because, after all, concerning about others aims at concerning about oneself. Foucault's self-concerning is instructive for us, which demands that the subject should create his life course as a work of art, and get his own happiness in free aesthetic practice. Clearly, Foucault's self-concerning means that the subject should not only control his own body and soul, but also get away from all slavery outside and create his own life into a unique work of art and live up to his own life style. This is the key to Foucault's self-cultivation.