Hermeneutics of the self and the end of exomologesis: Michel Foucault and the exclusion of the materiality of veridiction in Christianity

This article tackles Michel Foucault's researches on the discontinuities that the monasticism of 4th and 5th Centuries introduced in the practice of confession (aveu). Focusing on the central role played by confession, our aim is to complement with a new perspective the French philosopher's inquiries regarding the conformation of the "will to know" in Western society. We start from the Foucaultian problem of exclusion and we use it as a guideline in order to analyze how the exomologesis a non-verbal way of saying the truth typical of the first centuries of Christianity loses its fundamental role as a way of self-veridiction in the context of early monasticism. In this way, our work approaches crucial issues about the monasticism-derived changes in the configuration of the relationships between subjectivity and truth in the Western society.