When existence and speech demand care: Philosophy as parresia.

Abstract

In the history of the West, during all great moments of crisis, conflicts and social catastrophes, Philosophy represented a kind of knowledge to which people dedicate their attention, and they search new comprehensions and propositive actions that respond to their problems. Philosophy is also a kind of discursivity from which a true and authentic speech is expected. Based on this understanding, we have been developing since 2013 an investigation about the processes of subjectivation, the role that persons can develop as resistance movements, by discussing Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault’s thoughts. We ask also how philosophical knowledges can contribute in these relationships, in particular the role of philosophical education. In this paper, we expose just a part of this investigation in which we discuss the care of the Self and the parrhesia. We ask how philosophical knowledge can be constituted as parrhesiastic speech, how Philosophy can be constituted as speech that guides people to the care of themselves and how can Philosophy (as frank speech) criticize and denounce authoritarian power. In order to elaborate this text we studied two courses that Foucault taught in Collège de France in 1982 and 1983 (The Hermeneutics of the Subject and The Government of Self and others. Finally, we recognize the discussion during this article is so relevant in face of currently political situation in Brazil which we named « dark times » , times of coups, coups in all social instances, various modalities of coup, coup upon coup, a coup government that supplants a legitimately elected governor. We have lived serious problems in the National Congress of Brazil or in the European Parliament and also in the Trump’s age in the White House. By looking to these elements we think the opportune moment (kairós) for Philosophy is arrived, Philosophy as parrhesiastic knowledge, through which philosophers denounce and guide people in order to take care of themselves.