Introduction

This book contends that both Bentham and Foucault were interested in systems that allow one first to govern oneself in order then to govern others – Bentham in the devising, and Foucault in the studying, of these systems. Although it cannot be said that Foucault was influenced by Bentham per se, similarities between their philosophies point towards the fact that Foucault's study of the techniques of Western liberal government focused specifically on one type of liberalism, the type that Bentham devised when he conceived of his utilitarian government. There were also striking similarities when grounding their advocacy for freer or de-penalized sexual acts on the sexual customs of Ancient Greeks, as I have shown in Chapter 1.

Given these common grounds, there are reasons to wonder if one could read Bentham's utilitarian ethical reform in terms of conduct of conduct. Here I will shift away from Foucault's earlier writings on discipline and later writings on Western liberalism to focus on his essays on Ancient Greek ethics, which he studied as an aesthetics of existence.