Narcissism as ethical practice?: Foucault, askesis and an ethics of becoming

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  2. Dr Elaine Campbell
Author(s)Campbell E
Publication type Article
JournalCultural Sociology
Year2010
Volume4
Issue1
Pages23-44
ISSN (print)1749-9755
ISSN (electronic)1749-9763
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An auto/biographical society brings with it fears of a drift towards a culture of narcissism in which the mutuality and ethicality of collective life may be eclipsed in favour of a self-indulgent ‘aesthetics of existence’. This article focuses on auto/biographical practice, regarding it as a quintessential ‘technology of the self ’ in the Foucauldian sense. Paradoxically, this positions auto/biography within a thesis which emphasizes the constitution of the self as a project of aesthetic inscription, posing dangers for ethicality and commitment to public life. Is an aesthetic disposition ethically indispensable? The paper explores this problematic through the lens of Foucauldian ethics. A critical (re-)examination of the aesthetics of reading and writing auto/biography suggests the potential for realizing a different kind of ethical relation to ourselves and others. These issues are explicated by reference to the popular cultural text, Dead Man Walking – an auto/biographical narrative which is explicitly ‘aestheticized’ as entertainment.
PublisherSage Publications Ltd.
URLhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1749975509356752
DOI10.1177/1749975509356752
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