Michel Foucault: The Cultivation of the Self Michel Foucault (1926-1984) spent much of the later part of his studies on the idea of the care of the self and cultivation of the self. He defined such care as using one’s own reason to ascertain who one is and how he can be his best. Foucault takes several perspectives on this theme, from medical to phenomenological, to develop his focus on finding out who one is, the goal of the care of the self. Human’s failure to attain and nurture this self results in the decay of this self. Foucault saw his writings on this and other concepts as part of a philosophy known as the art of living. The art of livin