Techniques of Finitude: On the Pastoral Matrix of Economic Care
Building and expanding on Foucault’s work, this essay interprets pastoral power as a turning point within the long-term history of the care of the self. Through an analysis of early Christian monasticism, it claims that the pastorate emerged out of a re-conceptualization of ancient understandings of...
Saved in:
| Published in | Theory, culture & society |
|---|---|
| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
23.12.2023
|
| Online Access | Get full text |
| ISSN | 0263-2764 1460-3616 |
| DOI | 10.1177/02632764231203567 |
Cover
| Summary: | Building and expanding on Foucault’s work, this essay interprets pastoral power as a turning point within the long-term history of the care of the self. Through an analysis of early Christian monasticism, it claims that the pastorate emerged out of a re-conceptualization of ancient understandings of human finitude and a correlative transformation of the techniques revolving around it. Pastoral power instantiates a specific way of framing institutionally the subject’s opening to the limits. The argument thus suggests how, and to what extent, this matrix of government still determines, albeit under a different guise, the current political phase, especially in as far as economic governmentality and its call to the indefinite self-enhancement of subjectivity are concerned. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0263-2764 1460-3616 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/02632764231203567 |