The Practice of Self-Care

This book is focused on the philosophy of care. It explores the concept of care in ancient Greek philosophy, before arguing the primacy of the action of care in human life. It also analyses how to define the care of the self and, in this perspective, it recalls and develops the concept of “spiritual practices” as performative techniques of the way of being. The text also considers the cognitive and emotional practices through which we can give a good shape to ourselves, such as paying attention, achieving inner silence, allowing oneself time, taking away, cultivating vital energy, and writing and thinking. It represents a major contribution to current debates on care ethics, and highlights how the ethics of the self takes form through the exercise of spiritual practices.