From power to power: action on the self

Abstract

The paper deals with the notions of resistance and freedom within Foucault's theory of power. As opposed to the definition of power relations as practices of domination, the notion of resistance to power is – on the basis of the Ancient Greek tradition and Kant's interpretation of the Enlightenment project – presented through the practices of the self. With the introduction of the practices of the self, the position of the subject changes, as he/she is no longer interpreted as a figure manipulated by outside power relations but as an autonomous process whose key characteristic is self-constitution. As such, the subject becomes the source of resistance. He/she becomes a source of the critical reflection of power relations and the patterns of subjectivity which these power relations attempt to impose. He/she becomes a force capable of rejecting those forms of subjectivity, and also a force which establishes new forms of subjectivity. But as is shown in the final part of the article, freedom in this context does not mean total liberation from power relations, but just a strategic move within these relations.