Parrhesia and alethurgic regimes of the exemplum starting from Michel Foucault's The Hermeneutics of the Subject

This paper try to explore the relationship between parrhesia and exemplum in the late Foucault's Lectures at the College de France. Starting from The Hermeneutics of the Subject, the paper analyzes the semantic and practical field of the Stoic and Epicurean direction of conscience in which Foucault opposes the parrhesia to flattery as well as rhetoric and put it together with an important series of concepts: the paradosis (the transfer of true discourses), the kairos (the right or opportune moment) and the exemplum defined as "the heart of the parrhesia" because it make sure the adaequatio between the subject who speaks and the subject of conduct, who conforms to the truth expressed by the former. Then, the paper focuses on the link between parrhesia and exemplum in the last Lecture, The Courage of Truth, in order to underline a relevant reconfiguration in Cynic parrhesia in which the exemplum appears as a moral category based on permanence and identity. Therefore, it is inadequate to this alethurgic regime of the Cynic parrhesia which consists instead of an experimental ethical attitude and of a test for life in order to reach a political transformation of the world through the continuous and scandalous provocation of the others, capable to change the perception of the cultural norms and accepted customs.