Lifelong educational care of the self in the age of metamodern

the article defines contemporary lifelong education as a modern version of "care of the self" and of one’s own identity in a post-postmodern era. The author shows that an ancient idea of a person who takes care of oneself and has a responsible attitude to their own educational path throughout the life is current to the subjects of modern pedagogical lifelong reality as well. The term "lifelong education" refers to the concepts of "care of the self", "simulacrum", "pseudo-education" or "quasi-education”, “e-learning”, “m(obile) learning”, “learning city.” This makes it possible to characterize a modern learner (beyond age and time limits), who acquires the ability to "learn how to learn" at school and does not lose it throughout the life. The article shows the evolution of "care of the self" as a strategy of lifelong (self-)education and how it can be implemented in a meta-modern era. The paper provides the examples of paradoxical nature of modern (self-)educational processes and shows radical changes in a modern educational environment with its fundamentally new forms of care of one's identity. The author concludes that the ancient idea targets modern educational theory and practice at different ranges of “care” for the sake of preserving the identity and finding oneself in culture. Work on the article was supported by the grant from the Russian Foundation for the Humanities 14-06-00315a.