哲學生命與工夫論的批判意涵：關於晚期傅柯主體觀的反思

Abstract

本文分三節：一、試論「同性戀工夫」，二、生命技藝或主體詮釋：傅柯「工夫」概念的形成，三、基進另類的生命。第一節探討傅柯如何連接歐洲修養史與同性戀經驗。筆者首先要釐清，傅柯為何將某些性實踐如S/M（愉虐戀）視為「新快感的創造」、「權力的性愛化」，或將策略關係當作快感源泉來使用的「遊戲」。第二節討論傅柯對欲望主體及主體詮釋學的反省，使他逐漸從負面的「工夫」的概念（即工夫等於禁欲和自我棄絕），打開工夫論的當代性。在此過程中，將工夫視為基督宗教內部的「反行為」，乃是從權力分析過渡到生命技藝和哲學生命的關鍵。第三節以傅柯《真理的勇氣》（1984年法蘭西學院課程）為主要參照，探討傅柯如何透過對犬儒主義的哲學生命和犬儒工夫的思考，串連歷史研究與另類實踐。在犬儒主義的討論中，他能徹底地擺脫「精神修養」和靈魂的形上學，開闢深具批判意涵的工夫論。

This paper consists of three parts. The first part is an experimental approach to ”homosexual ascesis”, the second part retraces the shaping of Foucault's notion of ascesis (ascèse) by focusing on the relation between arts of existence (techne tou biou) and hermeneutics of the subject, the third part deals with Foucault's interpretation of Cynicism and the idea of radical philosophical life. In the first place, I want to clarify the theoretical background of Foucault's his claim for ”homosexual ascesis” and his understanding of certain sexual practices like S/M as creation of new pleasure, eroticization of power or as a game in which strategic relations are transformed into a source of pleasure. This perspective serves as entrance into Foucault's reflections on the subject of desire and the hermeneutics of the subject which have gradually lead him to turn away from a Christian notion of ”ascesis” as repression of desire or renunciation of the self and towards the elaboration of its contemporary significance. I try to show that the understanding of ascetic practices within Christianity as ”counterconduct” has been crucial for the move from the analysis of power to the arts of existence and philosophical life. Main reference of the third part are Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France on The Courage of Truth (1984) in which he explores philosophical life in Cynicism and what he calls Cynic ascesis. His understanding of Cynic ascesis as a radical and critical form of philosophical life makes it, finally, possible to understand the correspondence between Foucault's historical research into Greco-Roman philosophy and his quest for alternative practices of the self. In his discussion of Cynicism Foucault relates critique and ascesis in an innovative way which convincingly breaks with spiritual cultivation and the metaphysics of the soul.