Anthropological practices of self-care: Eventfulness of the concept

Abstract

The present article introduces the concept of anthropological practice as a special practice of transformation and change of a person. The concept is discussed in terms of cultural tradition known as the “self-care” practice. The concept of anthropological practice is regarded from different focuses, primarily from the topic of care: ontological tope, tope of care discourse, tope of care as a practice, tope of care object, tope of care subject. The present research hereby proposes a classification of anthropological practices, where different types of objects and subjects for anthropological practice of care are described from the perspective of this topic. As a result, five types of anthropological practices of self-care are described: “epistrophe”, “agon”, “mimesis”, “cogito” and “autopoiesis”. Each type means different identities for a subject of practice, different practices and different teloses, i.e. ultimate objectives of practice. Works of contemporary authors containing analysis and classification of self-care practices in the culture are reviewed.