Adam et Ève faisaient-ils l’amour au paradis ? Notule sur Les aveux de la chair de Michel Foucault

Abstract

In the last part of Confessions of the Flesh, Michel Foucault offers a careful analysis of the libido theory as “the stigma of the involuntary in after-fault sex” according to Saint Augustine. This subject is closely linked to the patristic and Augustinian exegesis of the book of Genesis 1:28 (“Increase and multiply”), more specifically on the question of the possible or hypothetical existence of sexual intercourse in paradise. This article intends to study the texts of Saint Augustine and their analysis by Foucault alongside the subsequent philosophical and theological interpretations that arose concerning the thoughts of the Bishop of Hippo and the French philosopher. Did Augustine (and Foucault as the reader of Saint Augustine) declare that our ancestors made love in the Garden of Eden? Is Augustinian theology of marriage and sexuality, as Foucault put it, the foundation of “the morals of the Christian West”? Can we, indeed, speak of Augustinian theology or even Christianity as a “foundation” while respecting the “genealogical” method, as Foucault developed it?

Keywords

• confession
• Foucault (Michel)
• Saint Augustine
• sexuality
• Garden of Eden
• exegesis