AUTOCUIDADO, CAMINHANDO RUMO À DEMOCRACIA

Abstract

The care of oneself, correlating with the know thyself from Classical Greece, was relegated for a long time until Foucault (2010) revived it as a social aspiration and an existential concern for individuals. Today, it is essential that it is not only incorporated into the designs of the Individual and Society. It is an ethical and political imperative that only through its achievement can we move towards democratic societies. This care for the individual begins with the body, and this socialized body is also a social aspiration. But as some feminists point out (i.e., Mortari, 2022), it is not only related to what has traditionally been seen as the female task. Men are also obligated to work for care if we desire a democratic society that changes the perspective of the societies in which we currently live: neoliberal, consumerist, and hierarchical. Although we all need care, the task begins from ontogeny. It is necessary to socialize our new generations in that shared vision of care.