Abstract

Two issues frequently appear in the reflection of the late Foucault: critique and parrhesia (a specific form of ancient veridiction). Foucault himself highlights a link between these two questions, suggesting a genealogical relation between his analysis of ancient parresia and critical attitude, understood as the current task of philosophical thought. This article aims at investigating this link, suggesting that, among the different figures of ancient parrhesia analysed by Foucault, the cynical one offers some useful tools for thinking critique and its role in our present.