Society - Ethics

There's a lot to chew on in these interviews. I want to point out just one element that I found particularly interesting. Foucault makes a direct causal link between the form of Greek society (hierarchical, patriarchal, slave-owning) and its ethics (techniques of the self based on aesthetics and/or on being worthy of citizenship.) Since the first few interviews here often jump to the present and allude to the liberation movements of the 70s (as well as "Californianism" [!]), it's intriguing to me to consider "our" ethics in terms of the political and social composition of the US. By this, I mean our shared belief in democracy: we may think that there are serious problems with America and the world, but our implicit assumptions informing our sense of injustice is that things are insufficiently democratic. It would be really interesting to speculate about American ethics (plural) in these terms: do we believe in pluralism because of our democratic convictions, or did universalisms about human rights and so on "logically" lead to pluralism? And, since Foucault's discussions here were about sex, do present notions of mutually-pleasurable sexual indulgence arise out of pluralism, too?

-Chris