Genealogical method and self-care in Michel Foucault

The three periods of Foucault's philosophy—archeology, genealogy, and ethics—are distinguished by research areas and methodological distinctions. In 1980, he turned his attention to ethics, which has generated a lot of debate, particularly on the problem of the subject. This transition from the analysis of discourse and power to ethics is a process in which Foucault addresses the issue of the subject and truth together with the question of the exercise of freedom. My primary interest in this thesis, apart from the critique of Foucault's work in the field of ethics, is his analysis of the subject and truth, ranging from the concept of genealogy to the practices of self-care. To illustrate the mutability of accepted and imposed truths and subjectivities, I constructed my narrative utilizing Foucault's exposition of the idea of genealogy as an "ontology of the present" and discourse as an "event." Since modern power is considered to be a complex network of relations that pervades and works in all domains of life, using the same narrative thread I will also try to show how Foucault regarded modern power while examining biopower through the discourse of sexuality. To pursue a predetermined route through Foucault's intellectual journey would be to reject his ideas entirely. Therefore, I will try to explicate Foucault's winding thought, without emphasizing the methodological periodizations, but rather on the ground of the narrative of the subject and truth. It could be possible to see how Foucault's ethics relates to a political and aesthetic component as well, in contrast to any morality, which is based on self-knowledge and revelation. This is because Foucault's ethics is a practice of freedom that overlaps with knowledge and existence as a result of self-concern and care. Furthermore, in the last part of the narrative I have taken up Ancient Greek ethics and Socratic Parrhesia to show how Foucault's focus on the ontology of the present is linked to the ethical field and how it works together with his critical philosophy, which explores the conditions of self-transformation rather than the possibility of knowledge.