Foucault on Self and Education: Some Reflections and Conjectures
Abstract
This paper attempts to reconceive the salient relationships among self, moral education, and the reflection provocations of the French thinker Michel Foucault. It aims to provide a new perspective and philosophy of education on the current practice of moral education, particularly in the Philippines. In achieving this end, the paper discusses how moral education binds the self and its construction, and it forwards conjectures on how moral education may be directed better towards the advancement of the self. By drawing on the Foucauldian philosophical notions of care of the self that appeared in the latter works of the thinker Michel Foucault, this paper will argue that a moral education project can only be successful and truly live up to its promises of producing good human beings if it liberates and truly opens itself up to constant interrogation and reexamination. In the end, it is hoped that the paper will contribute towards crafting a more emancipating and truly effective moral education framework in the Philippines.
