Infléchir le cours de nos vies. Foucault et Wittgenstein à propos de l’éthique et de la subjectivité

The article approaches Foucault and Wittgenstein in connection with the problem of the emergence of the modern notion of morality as opposed to other spheres, such as aesthetics, religion, law, and prudence. I wish to suggest that Foucault dealt with the modern problem posed by the formation of morality already in his writings in the Seventies on the political subject. The formation of the modern notion of morality was produced at the expense of materials which were variously relocated or actually left out of consideration. I wish to argue that both Foucault and Wittgenstein dealt with this problem: they wished to offer intellectual tools in order to visualize and reactualize an area of reflective life tied to morality, yet excluded by it, and either hidden under other guises or actually made invisible. In the second place, they each gave a characterization of this area which can be fruitfully put in connection one with the other tied with the notion of giving form to one’s life.