Foucault’s Climactic Vitalism: A New Core of Resistance

Abstract

This article elaborates a reflection on Deleuze's reading of the late Foucault, particularly in the text ‘The folds or the inside of thought’. First, it reviews Deleuze's interpretation of the return to the Greeks in relation to the care of oneself and the care of others, oscillating between the axes of knowledge and power. Then, it presents how Deleuze argues that even though subjectivities are co-opted, it is possible to establish a power over life that resists any imposed codification or identification. Next, we analyze the affirmative biopolitics that coincides with that affirmative vitalism that Deleuze found in the relationship with himself explored by Foucault. Finally, we reflect on the liberating effectiveness of betting on a reactivation of vitalism through an affirmative biopolitics.