Foucault and Somaesthetics: Variations on the Art of Living

Auteurs-es

  • Richard Shusterman

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.i36.7233

Mots-clés :

Foucault, Somaesthetics, pleasure, ars erotica, women, aesthetics, truth, heroism, beauty, art of living, Cynicism

Résumé

This essay examines Foucault’s legacy in terms of its contribution to the field of somaesthetics.  It demonstrates how Foucault’s work on embodiment, care of the self, pleasure, sexuality, and aesthetics of existence were inspirational to the founding of somaesthetics and can serve as exemplars of somaesthetic philosophy. However, the essay also explores the ways that current somaesthetic research departs from Foucault’s theories by critiquing their limitations with respect to several important issues. These issues include the varieties of pleasure, the multicultural scope and diversity of ars erotica, the range of aesthetics and art, and the demand for truth and heroism in the art of living a beautiful life. 

Biographie de l'auteur-e

Richard Shusterman

Richard Shusterman is the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities at Florida Atlantic University and Director of its Center for Body, Mind, and Culture. His Pragmatist Aesthetics is published in fifteen languages. His recent books include Body Consciousness, Thinking through the Body, and Ars Erotica (all with Cambridge University Press), Philosophy and the Art of Writing (Routledge), and a graphic bilingual novel based on his work in performance art, The Adventures of the Man in Gold/Les aventures de l’homme en or (Paris: Hermann). The French government awarded him the title of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his cultural work.

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Publié-e

2024-09-01

Comment citer

Shusterman, R. (2024). Foucault and Somaesthetics: Variations on the Art of Living . Foucault Studies, (36), 142–169. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.i36.7233

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Rubrique

Special Issue: Foucault’s Legacy in Contemporary Thinking