Listening to the Truth: Foucault and the Ethical Constitution of the Subject

Abstract

Abstract This article investigates listening as a fundamental philosophical practice, drawing on Michel Foucault’s analyses of the notion of care of the self. In contrast to the primacy of self-knowledge characteristic of modern philosophy, Foucault shows that, in Antiquity, access to truth required a set of ascetic practices, among which listening occupied a central place. Far from being reduced to auditory perception or the passive reception of content, listening is understood as an ethical, relational, and political exercise that enables the incorporation of the logos and the transformation of the subject’s way of life. This trajectory unfolds in dialogue with ancient authors and brings Foucauldian readings closer to Pierre Hadot’s interpretations of ancient philosophy as spiritual exercise. In a time characterized by the dispersion of attention, information saturation, and the accelerating dynamics of the digital realm, it is noteworthy how listening, informed by a critical appraisal of Antiquity, can emerge as a practice capable of resisting the fragmentation of experience and reopening the question of truth as an ethical transformation of the subject.