Self-government In The Modernity

This thesis tries to put Max Weber and Michel Foucault in a convergent sphere of ethical practices,in order to make a comparative analysis of these two people.It establishes from ethical perspective and it interprets both Weber and Foucault's thoguths with concern of self-government of the modern individual.Weber and Foucault,they both have tremendously striking statues among the continental philosophers.Their studies both concerning the authority in power,theological community and individual practice in the sense of modernity.The comparative research between these two could have started within various perspectives:their researches about different types of domination,their concerns of disiclinary technologies,the Weberian rationality comparable to the Foucauldian knowledgegovernment,and their inheritance from Fredrich Nietzsche,etc.These above are all good starts.But seldom has scholar regognize a more esoteric but accurate clue between Weber and Foucault: self-government of people,or to say,self-formation of individual.From the idea of self-government,one can not only find many convergences of Weber and Foucault in terms of ethical practice,but also discover that the two made similar responces in the face of modern times.This thesis right follows the idea of the government of self.And with thematic explorations to think about thoughts of Weber and Foucault,it aims to rediscover those stylish thoughts of ethical practices in Max and Michel.Apart from focusing on macro-issuses,such as rationality and governmentality,dealing with the analysis,this thesis pays more attention to different forms of ethical practices to investigate Weber and Foucault's thoghts.Both of them,accept the diagnosis of modernity by Nietzsche,ie.“God is dead!”,and both make it as the basic principle when facing such fate of modernity.They develop their own ideas preparing for a new form of ethics replacing the old one.Weber negatively suggests,the modern world is suffered by a fate of “disenchantement” because of its essence of rationality;on the other hand,Foucault concerns of the government of people by modern institutions,and this concern can be interpreted ethically in terms of Weber's view of rationality.Our time loses its old faith,and Weber and Foucault both realize the urge for a new one to manifesit the conduct of individual's life.Weber,on the one hand,accelerates the ethical practices of protestant to a level of “ideal type”,within which he brings some particular form of practice for the spiritual need of modern individual.Foucault,on the other hand,by tracing back to ancient Greek and early Christian times,focuses on giving an ancient principle,“taking care of the self”,which has long been omitted by modern knowledge,a new form to fit for modern individuals as another way of government of the self.Weber and Foucault's ideas of ethical practices mainly work on two directions,the self and the others.For the individual consistently practices with himself to give the self a perfect form,or to transform the self;at the same time his practice affects the others and the contemporary times,offering the society a new impulse in spite of rational power could exert.Weber's modern Charisma,and Foucault's modern parrhesia,are exactly two practical uses to work on the others.Finaly,both Weber and Foucault's ethical practices form a particular conduct of life,which is both personally styled and facing the individual himself.This conduct of life,in Weber's word,is called “vocation”,and in Foucault's it transformed its shape as an aesthetic existence of individual.We could see that,Weber and Foucault not only care for individual's self-ethical form,they also care for such ethics from onself to the others.To investigate the ethical thoughts of Weber and Foucault is not just useful for academic research;under the unique atmosphere of the modern times,the analysis between these two people may also offer ourself,the individual,a particular choice to think about the existence and the government of the self,in a renewed way.