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The History of Sexuality, Vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure Paperback – April 14, 1990
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Throughout The Use of Pleasure Foucault analyzes an irresistible array of ancient Greek texts on eroticism as he tries to answer basic questions: How in the West did sexual experience become a moral issue? And why were other appetites of the body, such as hunger, and collective concerns, such as civic duty, not subjected to the numberless rules and regulations and judgments that have defined, if not confined, sexual behavior?
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage
- Publication dateApril 14, 1990
- Dimensions5.26 x 0.72 x 7.9 inches
- ISBN-100394751221
- ISBN-13978-0394751221
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Throughout The Uses of Pleasure Foucault analyzes an irresistible array of ancient Greek texts on eroticism as he tries to answer basic questions: How in the West did sexual experience become a moral issue? And why were other appetites of the body, such as hunger, and collective concerns, such as civic duty, not subjected to the numberless rules and regulations and judgments that have defined, if not confined, sexual behavior?
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Throughout The Uses of Pleasure Foucault analyzes an irresistible array of ancient Greek texts on eroticism as he tries to answer basic questions: How in the West did sexual experience become a moral issue? And why were other appetites of the body, such as hunger, and collective concerns, such as civic duty, not subjected to the numberless rules and regulations and judgments that have defined, if not confined, sexual behavior?
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- Publisher : Vintage; Reissue edition (April 14, 1990)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0394751221
- ISBN-13 : 978-0394751221
- Item Weight : 8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.26 x 0.72 x 7.9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #39,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
One of the leading intellectuals of the twentieth century and the most prominent thinker in post-war France, Foucault's work influenced disciplines as diverse as history, sociology, philosophy, sociology and literary criticism.
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was a French historian and philosopher associated with the structuralist and poststructuralist movements. He is often considered the most influential social theorist of the second half of the twentieth century, not only in philosophy but in a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Among his most notable books are Madness and Civilization, Discipline and Punish, and The History of Sexuality.
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1) the work that one performs on oneself, not only in order to bring one's conduct into compliance with a given rule, but to attempt to transform oneself into the ethical subject of one's behavior is ethical work. Pg 27
2) an `aesthetics of existence' is a way of life whose moral value does not depend either on one's being in conformity with a code of behavior, or on an effort of purification, but on certain formal principles in the use of pleasures, in the way one distributed them, in the limits one observed, in the hierarchy one respected. through reason and the relation to truth that governed it, such a life was committed to the maintenance and reproduction of an ontological order; moreover, it took on the brilliance of a beauty that was revealed to those able to behold it or keep its memory present in mind. Pg 89
3) the principle according to which sexual activity was meant to be regulated, the `mode of subjection' was not defined by a universal legislation determining permitted and forbidden acts; but rather by an art that prescribed the modalities of a use that depended on different variables (need, time, status). Pg 91
if a man could successfully regulate and master his behavior and, a modern word, passions, he was in a pretty good position to maintain a functioning household of which included a wife, servants and children. and success with his household indicated he was fit to govern. the man, since time immemorial went out and brought home the bacon and the wife stayed home doing housework until the husband arrived with the bacon which she would prepare, and later, if the time was right, make ready for sexual duties in hope that sons would be born who would continue the bloodline. girls were pretty much forgotten. probably they observed their mothers as they busied about the house ordering servants as to chores done until someone wanted to marry them and they left the house of the father for the house of a husband who instructed her in the ways of maintaining his household. boys, on the other hand, had education to look forward to, and the free men, the professional class, the teachers, physicians, philosophers, many of whom found the boys beautiful instead of the stinky booger eaters the girls perceived them as being. in ancient greece, the literature informs us, there was the object of desire, the erotic object of desire, and for many free men that object was a boy, a relationship not of a legal matter but a problematic concern of certain philosophers, in particular Socrates and his biographers, plato and xenophon.
there was an entire erotics, foucault tells us, games of love, courtships, devised by those desirous men surrounding the boys, not much different than the mass marketing campaign based on the word and undefined concept `sexy' (just because a jacket is sexy does not mean the jacket or the wearer wants to engage in sexual activity) in the late 20th century. nor either were the boys supposed to take the erotic pressure seriously, they were, after all, out in the world of men to get an education; however, the boys did not know they were not to take the presents, the stalking, the fawning, the invitations, seriously, and if they did, well, that was alright if they responded with the proper decorum, and if their lovers were not compromising the boy's honor and, as men, their own honor. so the male philosophers agreed, the boys are beautiful; however, you may want to consider that more beautiful than the bodies of boys are the souls of boys, and if you really want to be master of yourselves you should cultivate a desire for beauty, beauty in its highest nature, the soul, instead of beauty of the body for the sake of brief pleasures, for there is true love.
now on to volume 3.
This is a superb overview of Ancient Greek sexual ethics - an ethics that may seem surprisingly austere and disciplined to modern readers.
I am not a classicist and even if I was it would take a book length reply to argue against Foucault’s account. Briefly, he sees Greek sexuality as largely a matter of good health, wise management of one’s household and, perhaps least importantly, erotic pleasure. He stresses that it had only a tangential relation to morals. He relies primarily on Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle with some support from the Hippocratic tradition.
I can’t say I now agree with Foucault that there is no such thing as natural human sexuality but, to be honest, it’s more out of prior convictions than well founded objections to this history.
I am looking forward to Volume III which deals with Roman sexuality and then the posthumously published Volume IV treatment of the Church Fathers which is Foucault’s last finished work.
Volume II can be either be read on its own by those interested in ancient Attica or as evidence for Foucault’s Volume I claims. Either way, it’s a well-written and engaging book.
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同書の和訳を読んだわけではないが、書店でぱらぱらとめくってみた限りでは実に判りにくそうな日本語のような気がしたので、英訳版で読んでみた(私はフランス語が読めないので)。話の具体性が増したせいか、この英訳はなかなか簡潔で意味のとれないところがほとんどない。その意味ではVOL. 1よりも判りやすい。おすすめである。