Exit from stultitia: Seneca’s pedagogical-therapeutic strategy

In his analysis of Seneca?s notion of stultitia, Michel Foucault suggests that we will not fully understand Seneca?s pedagogical-therapeutic strategy if we exclusively follow the traditional and literal translation of the term as ?nonsense?, ?folly?, or ?ignorance?. According to his description, the figure of the stultus is best understood as a ?raw material?, devoid of an appropriate relation to itself, but more or less suitable for formation, provided that, like Seneca?s literary addressees, he wills to emerge from the raw state of the stultitia by appealing for help to the figure of an ?pedagogue?, ?teacher?, or ?therapist? (that is, to Seneca himself). However, in keeping with the Stoic tradition, Seneca dares not to think of himself as a wise man, but rather as an experienced and progressive stultus who, without continual struggle with himself, always threatens to fall from a ?cooked? to a ?raw? state of stultitia.