(RE)LENDO EPICTETO E FOUCAULT: CUIDADO DE SI, SUJEITOS E EDUCAÇÃO

Abstract

This article departs from the question posed by Pagni (2011, p. 36): “How can one
relate the art of living to the disciplinary and subjectifying dispositifs of the school?”—not with
the intention of answering it, but rather to problematize the educational status quo, particularly
within the Brazilian context of Professional and Technological Education. Theoretically and
methodologically, it draws on texts from ancient Greek and Roman thought — especially Stoicism
and Epictetus’ Enchiridion (sources mobilized by Michel Foucault) — as well as contemporary
works (Foucault and his commentators) and seeks to survey studies on care of the self in/of
Education carried out in Brazil. The aim is to advocate for a form of education fundamentally
different from the molding of thought and conduct through, for example, curricular components
related to entrepreneurship or “life projects” (in their neoliberal sense), or through the influence
of international organizations on educational policies. Rather, it argues for an education concerned
with preparing individuals for the world, aware of their belonging both to a specific community
and to the cosmos, and of their responsibilities toward both, rather than merely preparing or
adapting subjects to the demands of the labor market.