Resumo:
This dissertation investigates the relationship between the critical attitude and practices of
freedom in the thought of Michel Foucault, with an emphasis on his problematization of
contemporary forms of subjectivation. Drawing on the notion of Aufklärung, understood as a
critical stance toward forms of government and power, and on parrhesia — conceived as an
ethical-political practice of truth-telling — it analyzes how the subject may resist the
excessive conduct of conduct within modern regimes of governmentality. In this context, the
study examines the articulation between critical attitude, governmentality, and the liberal
conception of freedom, highlighting critique as a mode of resistance. It further explores
Foucault’s reflections on parrhesia in relation to the notions of care of the self and the
government of self and others, as well as to the interpretation of ancient philosophy through
the lens of parrhesiastic practice. Finally, by bringing together the meanings of Aufklärung
and parrhesia, the dissertation seeks to understand the role of philosophy as a critical attitude
and as a practice of interrogating the present. By sustaining this articulation, it argues that
critique does not uncover an inner essence, but rather inaugurates an ongoing process of
self-constitution, thereby contributing both to the deepening of debates on Foucault’s
philosophy and to reflections on the possibilities for reinventing modes of existence in the
contemporary world.
