Art of Living Beautifully
Foucault’s aesthetics of existence and Shusterman’s somaesthetics
The way they walked, how they held a cup, the words they chose, their sense of self, their habits of relating to others, their manner of making love... This is how we remember an ex-lover. The closer we are to someone, the more we perceive. Just as we notice more in a painting the longer we stand before it. Is life itself a work of art? Are the self and the human body our primary mediums to realize this work of art?
We are always working on ourselves. From the things we learn to the clothes we wear, we strive to become better. Long before being an academic discipline, philosophy was a way of life, a mode of existing in the world, which had to be practiced at each instant, with the goal of transforming the whole of one’s life.
In this Philosophy for Plebs session, we bring this ancient view of philosophy back into the present and discuss Michel Foucault’s aesthetics of existence and Richard Shusterman’s somaesthetics to reflect on the art of living beautifully.
Readings:
- Michel Foucault, “On the Genealogy of Ethics: An Overview of Work in Progress” [1982], in Ethics (The Essential Works of Michel Foucault, Vol. 1), ed. Paul Rabinow (1997)
- Richard Shusterman, “Somatic Style”, in Thinking through the Body: Essays in Somaesthetics (2012)
Optional Further Reading:
- Valentina Antoniol and Stefano Marino (eds.), Foucault’s Aesthetics of Existence and Shusterman’s Somaesthetics: Ethics, Politics, and the Art of Living. London: Bloomsbury, 2024.
Link to google drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1dYFRMexww4pvHFMJ9Tb7i-yYfbVsWWl6
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