Publication Details
Styles of Existence: True Life and the Other World. The Reconsi- deration of the Ancient Cynicism in the European Philosophy of the 20th Century
Abstract
The problem of true life has been central in the history of our philosophical and spiritual thought (Foucault), though it plays a much less important role in contemporary thought. The article presents a framework for understanding the comeback of philosophical interest in ancient Cynicism by situating it in the contemporary context of reconsidering the question of true life. The article explores the links between that comeback and the post-war debates about the modernity project and the Enlightenment’s unfulfilled promises. The role played by the interpretations of ancient Cynicism in some recent attempts to rethink ethics and the project of social critique is examined as well. Through the prism of Michel Foucault’s final lectures on parrhésia, the article looks at the Cynic style of existence as an approach to truth alternative to Platonism and one that posits a wholly different relationship between truth and an the other world.
Ancient Cynicism and contemporary philosophy, The relationship between transcendental and critical philosophy, Modernity and the problem of auto- nomous life, Foucault’s last lectures at Collège de France 1983/1984, Parrhesia, Ethics, Styles of existence, Approach to the truth, Other world, True life