Abstract:
In the early 1980s, Michel Foucault’s research emphasis turned to ethics, and the major achievement is the aesthetics of existence. As the last contribution in Foucault’s theoretical career, aesthetics of existence is designed to find a new theoretical way after the subject deconstruction. At the same time, this theory is featured by the deep comprehension to the fate of human beings and the ideal of aesthetical transcendence. As the key concept of aesthetics of existence, “caring for oneself” reflects not only a perfect survival state, but also the beauty orientation in existential practice. In terms of the inheritance of classical poetic wisdom and the development of aesthetic modernity, the feasibility of the aesthetics of existence is controversial. Admittedly, it still has profound theoretical value and positive practical significance.
