Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Flakne, April

Area of Concentration

Philosophy

Abstract

In this thesis, I investigate the question of whether it is possible for the self to have a form of being free from the influence of historical limits. Following Michel Foucault’s genealogical and archaeological methodology, I argue that while such a form of being is impossible, we can still exercise free self-determination as a way to reject historical limits. I begin by establishing the problem of limits upon the self’s being, drawing from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks to show the potential harms they can cause. I then posit a form of being prior to these historical determinations, which I call Original Being, as a possible solution to this issue. I then argue that such a state of being is not possible, drawing upon Foucault’s concept of historical a priori as laid out in his book, Archaeology of Knowledge. Using this concept, I explain how historical limits come to limit the self through their role in constructing the present’s intersubjective conditions. I then use this argument to demonstrate both the necessity of some kind of historical limits as part of the constitution of the self’s being, as well as the ultimate contingency of any given limit. Following from this analysis, I propose a new conception of Original Being as a negative limit concept which can guide the project of self-determination in being. Following this consideration, I move into an analysis of Foucault’s essay, “What is Enlightenment” to show how a critical attitude rooted in genealogical and archaeological analysis can help the self find self-determination in being through the continuous and partial transgression of their limits. In order to carry out this transgression, I suggest the employment of technologies of the self, as described in Foucault’s lecture of the same name, as a way to self-produce new modes of being contrary to the limits of history. Building off of this idea of technologies of the self, I caution against the influence of Governmentality in their employment. I then distinguish Governmentality’s influence on the self from Intersubjectivity, suggesting that the latter can and must be reintegrated into the self in order to have genuinely free self-determination because of its indispensable role in the constitution of the self. In order to carry both of these goals out, I suggest the adoption of the Foucualdian concept of care of the self as a guiding principle, and highlight certain associated practices as possible tools for transgression. I then conclude with a comparison between this Foucauldian project and Existentialism, reemphasizing the nature of the subject as constituted through practices and urging the continual employment of critique and transgression as a way to expand the horizons of the self.

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