Nietzsche, Foucault and the therapeutic paradigm in Western Culture

Marta Faustino

Postdoctoral Project sponsered by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) - SFRH/BPD/96096/2013

This project aims to build what can be called a "genealogy" or "archeology" of the notion of therapy in the West. Following the lead of Friedrich Nietzsche's and Michel Foucault's genealogical analysis, I will focus on the three paradigms or main configurations of therapy in Western culture: philosophy, religion and psychoanalysis/ psychiatry. This "genealogy" or "arqueology" entails two main parts. On the one hand, I try to show the continuity and prevalence of the notion of therapy in Western culture, in any of this three main configurations, analyzing the similarities and differences between them, as well as an eventual common background. On the other hand, I try to determine the impact, consequences and effects of the prevalence of therapy in Western culture, on a psychological, social, cultural and political level, trying to make what in a Nietzschian/ Foucaultian sense could be called a critique of its value.