Michel Foucault: ética de la palabra y vida académica.

Michel Foucault left us with an implicit reflection about the meaning of the work of the "master of life," just as antique philosophy (Greco-Roman) practiced and made a problem of it. In Foucault's studies about ancient philosophy, which will soon be available as a whole in a written edition, this figure of the "master of life" could be emphasized if it were contrasted with the figure of the "master of truth" as Marcel Detienne studied it, especially referring to the archaic age. The introduction to this work presents the general framework within which Foucault performed his research on ancient philosophy. The first part summarizes what is considered Michel Foucault's fundamental contribution, emphasizing what "ethics of the word" mean and how a "master of life" possesses this. For this purpose, the study is supported especially by the rigorous analysis Foucault made of the notion of parrhesia. Based on this, the second part of the study postulates that the meaning of the ethical role fulfilled by the problematization made by ancient philosophy related to the figure of the "master of life," is fulfilled not only in its limited historical dimension, that is to say, in the age of antique philosophy. That meaning also allows us to ask ourselves critically about our own condition as university educators in the world we live in at the beginnings of the twenty first century. For this reason, this paper's intention is to demonstrate that authentic academic life demands the ethic of the word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]