In the paper "Care of the self and human development" the author would like to draw readers` attention to the concept of self-care. This concept, according to the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka, is crucial for humanity formation. Patočka and another 20 century thinker Michel Foucault tried to revive the tradition of the care of the self. It is a matter of fact that this tradition lost its significance in the modern time partially because of the growing importance of scientific approaches toward human being. Despite this, care of the self can still be an important element in the human life. Care of the self can be understood as an alternative in the world dominated by scientism and instrumentalism because it tries to see human development as a process in which two approaches scientific and spiritual become one in the art of living.