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Full Idea
The subject is not a substance but a form, which is not always identical to itself. You do not have the same relation to yourself when you go to vote and when you seek to fulfil your desires in a sexual relationship.
Gist of Idea
A subject is a form which can change, in (say) political or sexual situations
Source
Michel Foucault (Ethics of the Concern for Self as Freedom [1984], p.290)
Book Ref
Foucault,Michel: 'Essential Works 1954-1984 I: Ethics', ed/tr. Rabinow,Paul [Penguin 1994], p.290
A Reaction
I don't think I believe this. If it were true, the concept of 'sexual politics' would mean nothing to me. A brutal or sympathetic nature is likely to express itself in both situations.
| 7418 | The idea of liberation suggests there is a human nature which has been repressed [Foucault] |
| 7419 | Ethics is the conscious practice of freedom [Foucault] |
| 7420 | When logos controls our desires, we have actually become the logos [Foucault] |
| 7422 | A subject is a form which can change, in (say) political or sexual situations [Foucault] |
| 7423 | Philosophy and politics are fundamentally linked [Foucault] |
| 7424 | Saying games of truth were merely power relations would be a horrible exaggeration [Foucault] |
| 7425 | The aim is not to eliminate power relations, but to reduce domination [Foucault] |
| 7426 | Critical philosophy is what questions domination at every level [Foucault] |