[Air-l] Confession and technologies of the self

[Ken Friedman]

Dear Jeremy,

The thread on confession and technologies of the self has been 
interesting. I would like to add a few thoughts in the light of your 
original query that have not been raised.

Jeremy Crampton wrote, "Has anybody done work on Foucault's idea of 
the 'technologies of the self' in cyberspace? My own take on this 
(for a book) is that cyberspace forms subjectivities between the axes 
of authenticity-confession, i.e., that cyberspace is another 
confessional regime where we can attempt to recover our 'true selves' 
outside the reach of power relations (a chimera according to 
Foucault)."

To understand the issue of "technologies of the self," - and the role 
of confession in discovering or recovering a true self -- it may help 
to look beyond Foucault.

Even though Foucault created the TERM, many thinkers have addressed 
the CONCEPT.

To get a better understanding of what you mean, I visited your 
excellent web site at URL 
http://monarch.gsu.edu/jcrampton/foucault/tos-1.html

You discuss technologies of the self as first,

"A set of techniques and practices that can be deployed to modify or 
affect the self."

While you go on to locate this in Foucault's views, I would like to 
focus on the strict meaning of the term outside Foucault's vocabulary.

As you note, Foucault's view locates the technologies of the self as" 
historically situated within power relations," adding that they "can 
mix one's own knowledge with that of the rule."

I used one of the links you provided to visit David Gauntlett's 
theory site for more definitions of technologies of the self at URL: 
http://theory.org.uk/ctr-fou6.htm

There are many definitions from high level and general definitions to 
definitions very deeply rooted in Foucault's' views. Gauntlett 
himself provides one of the best. He states that the term 
technologies of the self "basically refers to ways in which people 
put forward, and police, their 'selves' in society; and ways in which 
they are enabled or constrained in their use of different techniques 
by available discourses."

Starting with this general definition, you will find discussions of 
different technologies of the self through history. The first of 
these in the West go back to the time of the Egyptian wisdom schools. 
(Some of their writings survive in the wisdom books of the Bible. 
fragments of Amenophet can still be read in Proverbs 22:17-24:22). 
The ancient Chinese had such technologies, as did the pre-Socratic 
Greeks.

These themes recur repeatedly in philosophy from the first times to 
the most recent, and in theology. This is an essential area of 
psychology. Several rich streams of research address these issues.

When you locate the question on the axis of authenticity-confession, 
you will find a vast a serious literature at both ends, and in the 
linkage.

While it is often true that these issues arise in the context of 
power relations and abusive invasion of privacy, they also arise in 
voluntary and constructive contexts. Unless one accepts the idea that 
Foucault is always right about power relations, there are 
possibilities of an authentic self that are not always determined by 
power and power relations.

In theology, confession serves many purposes. At its best, confession 
permits a state of transparency from which - and through which - an 
authentic self emerges in relation to the divine. If one wishes to 
ascribe power relations to this, it may involve power relations in 
the sense that a divine entity is by definition a being of power. If, 
instead, one wishes to consider the divine as the ultimate ground of 
being, it is authenticity, rather than power, that is the core 
element of confession. Confession is act through which one become 
transparent and therefore aligned with the ultimate ground of being. 
This is what is meant by the state of grace that one should achieve 
through confession. Grace is rooted in authenticity, not in 
subjugation.

Existential theologies from Kierkegaard to Buber are based on this concept.

The idea of confession and atonement is also a powerful focus of 
Jewish theology, and this constitutes a central theme of the high 
holy days during which each individual human is invited to seek 
authentic relations with other human beings and with God.

Outside the traditional Christian and Jewish theologies, open or 
liberal churches base individual authenticity on this issue in a 
theological sense.

The Quaker meeting tradition of personal speech is an example of 
this. Direct speech does not always involve confession. It may do so, 
however, and confession does not always lad to judgment or a shift in 
power relations. This kind of confession does not involve power 
relations as a necessary consequence.

The humanistic psychology that began with the work of Maslow, 
Jourard, Moustakas, and others also addresses these possibilities.

Social psychologists and sociologists from Simmel to Goffman and 
beyond have also addressed the theme.

The authenticity-confession axis is also central to many forms of 
psychology and psychotherapy.

The nature of confession involves a wide range of issues in 
understanding and recovering the self. These are related to 
transparency and dialogue on several levels.

Because communication in cyberspace involves speech and communication 
of many kinds, the technologies of cyberspace can be technologies of 
the self in several senses. Your site notes, "a very productive side 
(producing the self after all) as well as a constraining side." Both 
are possible in cyberspace.

Several philosophical and theological traditions, and many research 
streams offer a starting point for developing this theme.

Best regards,

Ken


-- 

Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Technology and Knowledge Management
Norwegian School of Management

Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University