The reverse of subject: Foucault’s provocations to think about human rights

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the forms of subjectivation as proposed by Michael Foucault and the human rights. Taking as a starting point the Foucaultian im­plications of “the care of the self” and of “the stylization of existence” in the constitution of our lives, it is possible to replace the figures of the universal and the essential by more dissonant and singular forms of subjectivation. The essay corpus is focused in a bibliography that contemplates works by and about Michael Foucault and works about human rights without loosing sight of the practical implications and experiences in the field of law. More over, the per­ception of the deficiencies of the traditional theory about human rights when confronted with subjective differences or the need to promote autonomy and emancipation of the subjects shows why we seek new elements of subjectivity in Foucault’s philosophy and in a critical theory of human rights.