미셸 푸코의 근대적 죽음론- ‘인간의 탄생’과 그의 ‘죽음’, 그리고 ‘인간적 죽음’, 그 사회 이론적 함의-

Abstract

It is certain that death was one of the most important subjects for Michel Foucault. But it is also true that he did not ever leave a systematic theory on death. This paper reconstructs and discuses the socio- theoretical meaning of Foucault's thoughts about modern death. First of all, for Foucault, death is a generative motor for the modern individual. But at the same time, the modern individual is aware of themselves as a limited being. It means that the birth of the modern individual leads to cognition/perception of one's own death as a purely human task. For the first time in human history, this situation is a necessary consequence. So the modern individual pronounces his own death. Furthermore, modern society's 'bio-power' leads death to be dismissed as a purely private thing and to totally eliminate it. In this situation, the individual should develop a new personal ethic that does not originate from a universal principle or an ethic that should make possible the imanent confrontation with one's own death. One has no alternatives. Foucault's thought ranges over the understanding of the characteristics of modern death. It also makes understandable the origin of modern death and our form of correspondence/response to it. And Foucault's requirement of death as 'self care' does not mean a preference that we can leave out of personal choice, but an inevitability for everybody. Further, we can refer to Foucault's position as a critic about theologicalization/medicalization/educationalization of death in our society.