Ricerc@Sapienza

The aim of this essay is to focus the figure of Socrates in Foucault’s Course of 1981-1982, The Hermeneutics of the Subject, with particular attention to the reasons why the Delphic maxim “know yourself ” (gnothi seautòn) took precedence over the Lacedaemonian maxim “take care of yourself ” (epimelei heautoù) in the “Plato’s Socrates”. A process that has characterized philosophy since its inception, with a decisive change in what Foucault calls the “Cartesian moment”. The rele- vance of this investigation within the Foucaultian path and the peculiarity of his interpretation in the panorama of contemporary philosophy shed new light on the influence of Socratic thought in the Western tradition.