Foucault and Classical Antiquity

This book is a critical examination of Michel Foucault’s relation to ancient Greek thought, in particular his famous analysis of Greek history of sexuality. Wolfgang Detel offers a new understanding of Foucault\'s theories of power and knowledge based on modern analytical theories of science and concepts of power. He offers a fresh and complex reading of the texts which Foucault discusses, covering topics such as Aristotle’s ethics and theory of sex, Hippocratic dietetics, the earliest treatises on economics, and Plato’s theory of love. The result is a philosophically rich and probing critique of Foucault\'s later writings, and a persuasive account of the relation between ethics, power and knowledge in classical antiquity. His book will have a wide appeal to readers interested in Foucault and in Greek thought and culture.

• The book is based on the most advanced modern knowledge of classical Greek culture, as well as on modern theories of science and power • The book discusses critically the most influential readings of Foucault’s theory of history • The book provides fresh and complex readings of the main classical Greek texts that include theories on sex, love and sexuality

Introduction; 1. Morals, knowledge and power; 2. The ethical teleology; 3. The scientific regimen; 4. The asymmetrical relationship; 5. The epistemic eros; 6. Gender, nature and reference.