Philosophy of Power

Plato's dialogues The Republic and Gorgias engage deeply with the nature of justice, rhetoric, and the human soul, offering profound insights into political theory, ethics, and the art of persuasion. While The Republic presents a detailed philosophical vision of an ideal society governed by justice, Gorgias explores the darker side of rhetoric, exposing how persuasive speech can manipulate truth and moral responsibility. Though these works are distinct in their narrative style and specific focus, both dialogues confront the tension between reason and persuasion, virtue and power. The Republic examines the role of the philosopher-king in shaping a just city, while Gorgias critiques the seductive nature of rhetoric in influencing individuals and political affairs. This paper aims to explore the philosophical connections between The Republic and Gorgias, focusing on how each dialogue addresses the relationship between rhetoric and justice.

Los objetivos y contenidos del seminario se derivan, parcialmente, del último proyecto de investigación elevado al SECYT intitulado del mismo modo que la presente propuesta. Nuestra línea de investigación ha sufrido un desplazamiento de intereses, menos dirigidos a la elucidación epistemológica de la ciencia que a la elucidación de las propias prácticas sociales y, entre ellas, nos ha interesado trabajar en nociones tales como las de 'poder' y 'agencia' que implican una variedad de distinciones como las que se establecen entre "el individuo y la colectividad, entre acción y estructura,

The equivalence of (1) and (2) is the underlying idea of the general family of interpretations known as 'inclusivism', the original representatives of which include Ackrili (1974/1980), Cooper (1975), Irwin (1978), Nussbaum (1986). In these earlier writings little attention is paid to the role of 'the noble' in Aristotle's theory. Irwin (1985), 127 makes noble goods a proper subset of intrinsically worthwhile goods, arguing, from a passage in Rhetoric 19, that noble goods are those intrinsically worthwhile goods which benefit others. Engberg-Pedersen (1983), 40 offers a similar interpretation of the noble, as does White (1992), 273 n.4. Rogers (1993) cogently rehearses the objections to such an interpretation. 3 The schema of possibilities is laid out by Keyt (1978). 4 In Aristotelian terms, one can say that the moral virtues stand, as goods, in a 7ipo<; ev relationship to the 'focal' good of contemplation. I should point out that it is not part of my view that the virtuous agent explicitly looks to contemplation as he decides how to act. He looks to the noble, which, however, gets its content from its relationship to contemplation.

This paper consists of two sections. In the first I will describe the characteristics power must possess, according to Nietzsche, in order to foster a true spiritual growth, namely, to establish aristocratic values and make them prosper, while in the second I will outline which prospects Nietzsche wishes for the future of Europe. The two are clearly intertwined, given that, in the eyes of Nietzsche, Europe is the very embodiment of the aristocratic ideal.

Questo articolo si compone di due sezioni. Nella prima descriverò le caratteristiche che il potere deve possedere, secondo Nietzsche, per favorire una vera crescita spirituale, cioè per stabilire i valori aristocratici e farli prosperare, mentre nella seconda delineerò quali prospettive Nietzsche auspica per il futuro dell'Europa. Le due cose sono chiaramente intrecciate, dato che, agli occhi di Nietzsche, l'Europa è l'incarnazione stessa dell'ideale aristocratico.

Viviamo in un’epoca in cui l’idea di potenza è aborrita, identificata al male e alla violenza. Potenza e dominio costituiscono il cuore del mondo di ieri, contro il quale le istanze radicali del no- stro tempo lottano per far valere una cultura anarchica delle differenze secondo la logica del rovesciamento, per cui solo «capovolgendo le forme della vecchia società» (Nietzsche) l’umanità sarà finalmente capace di muovere dei passi concreti verso una Terra senza il male. Al centro di questo sovvertimento sta l’Europa, come portatrice del valore universale del logos, esso stesso nient’altro che la forma originaria del dominio. Ma agli occhi di un pensiero inattuale, qual è quello di Nietzsche e Guardini, negare la potenza significa disseccare le sorgenti stesse della vita. Di più: è un progetto impossibile. Occorre invece liberare il potere trasfigurante insito nella vita stessa, seguendo la logica di opposizione polare che la pervade, fino alle sue estreme possibilità. «Europa» è appunto il nome di questo tentativo.

Viviamo in un'epoca in cui l'idea di potenza è aborrita, identificata al male e alla violenza. Potenza e dominio costituiscono il cuore del mondo di ieri, contro il quale le istanze radicali del nostro tempo lottano per far valere una cultura anarchica delle differenze secondo la logica del rovesciamento, per cui solo «capovolgendo le forme della vecchia società» (Nietzsche) l'umanità sarà finalmente capace di muovere dei passi concreti verso una Terra senza il male. Al centro di questo sovvertimento sta l'Europa, come portatrice del valore universale del logos, esso stesso nient'altro che la forma originaria del dominio. Ma agli occhi di un pensiero inattuale, qual è quello di Nietzsche e Guardini, negare la potenza significa disseccare le sorgenti stesse della vita. Di più: è un progetto impossibile. Occorre invece liberare il potere trasfigurante insito nella vita stessa, seguendo la logica di opposizione polare che la pervade, fino alle sue estreme possibilità. «Europa» è appunto il nome di questo tentativo.

Filozofske, zgodovinopisne, sociološke, politološke, kulturološke in druge raziskave totalitarizma v 20. stoletju se osredotočajo na njegovo »družbeno pojavnost«, brez uvida, da je takšna »družbena pojavnost« lahko sama totalizirajoča glede horizonta sveta kot celote bivajočega, čeprav ga jemlje kot svojo »objektivno predpostavko«. Totalitarnost kot totalitarium se opolnomočuje s postavljanjem sveta, ki ga diktira totalizacija družbene subjektivitete. Prav tako je sistem produkcije, ki ga opredeljuje tehnoznanstveni napredek in se globalno kapitalizira, potrebno dojeti v
kontekstu opolnomočenja družbene subjektivitete, ki se funkcionalno »objektivira« v totalitarium. Totalitarium vzpostavljajo različni bloki in cone funkcioniranja, vendar ne v zgodovinskem zaporedju, marveč kot konjunktura urejanj, razporejanj, podrejanj in preurejanj, ki vsepovsod prevzemajo oblast.

[...]came Stirner, the prophet of contemporary anarchism." — [...]May's call for a new and improved "poststructuralist anarchism." [...]wherever the Federation held sway, power remained fluid, unbounded by central authority, and ever-creative in its manifestations. [...]the history of the Russian Revolution makes abundantly clear that "classical" anarchism does have a positive theory of power. [...]it has the advantage of an historical record: this theory has been put into practice, sometimes on a mass scale.

En este trabajo intentaré trazar los lineamientos básicos de una metafísica de la violencia y de la paz en Paul Gilbert y Agustín de Hipona. Para ello, explicitaré los postulados agustinianos sobre los que descansa una definición Gilbert da de la violencia en su libro La paciencia de ser. La definición de Gilbert se pondrá a prueba en tres pasos. En primer lugar, exploraré lo que implica hablar de la violencia en metafísica concebida ésta como una «filosofía primera». En segundo lugar, recuperaré la fenomenología que Agustín de Hipona elabora principalmente en De libero arbitrio. En tercer lugar analizaré la libertad política y su sustitución a través de la noción de «legalidad». De este modo, la violencia quedará caracterizada como la renuncia a lo propiamente político, como la afirmación unilateral de la libertad individual y, por lo tanto, la negación de esa misma libertad.

En este trabajo intentaré trazar los lineamientos básicos de una metafísica de la violencia y de la paz en Paul Gilbert y Agustín de Hipona. Para ello, explicitaré los postulados agustinianos sobre los que descansa una definición Gilbert da de la violencia en su libro La paciencia de ser. La definición de Gilbert se pondrá a prueba en tres pasos. En primer lugar, exploraré lo que implica hablar de la violencia en metafísica concebida ésta como una «filosofía primera». En segundo lugar, recuperaré la fenomenología que Agustín de Hipona elabora principalmente en De libero arbitrio. En tercer lugar analizaré la libertad política y su sustitución a través de la noción de «legalidad». De este modo, la violencia quedará caracterizada como la renuncia a lo propiamente político, como la afirmación unilateral de la libertad individual y, por lo tanto, la negación de esa misma libertad.

How it is possible for Aristotle to say that the virtuous man finds the greatest pleasures? In this article I try to show a reasonable link between virtue and pleasure, grounded on the notion of perfect activity (ἐνέργeια τeλeία), which in the case of human beings is an activity according to virtue. The virtuous person can contemplate his own noble life and find joy in his good actions, and pleasure appears in this contemplation, which is a perfect activity (ἐνέργeια τeλeία).

In this essay (and its English translation) I discuss the philosophical themes of Kari Vehosalo's paintings, published in his exhibition book by Sara Hildén Art Museum. The themes include observations of eerie atmospheres, decaying beauty, sexuality and social norms.

The essay was awarded the Edvard Richter literature prize in December 2021.

The museum website describes the artist as follows:
"Kari Vehosalo (b. 1982), who won the Ars Fennica prize in 2017, is one of the most interesting of contemporary artists in Finland. [...] Vehosalo is interested in interfaces [...] where a tension is created by the friction between the private and the social. In his art he seeks to combine beauty, psychopathology and the Western culture of trauma. Thus the imagery of the history of art, the concepts of philosophy and psychology and the facts and fictions of Hollywood all constitute starting points for his works. In Vehosalo’s paintings, technical skill is combined with an imagery of cool beauty, in which a monochromatic palate lends a distancing effect to images of reality depicted with photographic exactitude. In his pictures he tends to place some disturbing element that shatters our sense of familiarity and security – and thereby summons up questions."

In her stimulating and interesting remarks, Melissa Zinkin suggests framing the discussion of the sublime in terms of empowerment, and she raises concerns about the sublime, the moral feeling of respect, and enthusiasm. I respond to Zinkin’s points or criticisms.

Il mondo è alterato da meccanismi finanziari sempre più oscuri. I Dark Data diventano sempre più Darker. Ma "c'è una crepa in ogni cosa, ed è così che entra la luce". Questo libro cerca di aprire una crepa sulla finanza globale e il suo potere. La prima legge di ogni potere, anche di quello finanziario, è oscurare i propri meccanismi, per schermare chi li possiede e li guida. E la nostra prima difesa è far luce su questi meccanismi. Non per tornare indietro, a un mondo senza macchine o finanza, ma per trovare il nostro ruolo in questo mondo nuovo dove finanza e rivoluzione digitale si sono abbracciate, abbracciano tutti e tutto, e dove non possiamo far altro che abbracciarle a nostra volta. In un viaggio tra macchine, flash crash, meditazione zen, algoritmi e dj finanziari, questo libro risale fino al codice sorgente del potere finanziario: cosa è diventato, da dove viene, e dove ci sta portando.

Este trabajo pretende analizar la relación entre la concepción moderna de derecho de propiedad y las categorías de poder propuestas por Michel Foucault (soberanía, poder disciplinario y biopoder). Todo esto, dando cuenta de cómo a través del tiempo –según conceptos de Jean-François Lyotard– se fue construyendo un “gran relato” sobre la idea de propiedad que persiste aún hoy y genera un entramado de relaciones de poder abstractas que afectan tanto a las personas como las cosas y el territorio. Asimismo, estudia la propiedad colectiva como un microrrelato que puede poner en jaque el relato hegemónico de la propiedad privada individual.

Available at: http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-blog-ebook-research-thoughts-on.html

This is my third volume in the series ‘My Research Thoughts on…Spinoza’, a series of books dedicated to Spinoza (labelled series 1) which is situated within my overarching series on the History of Philosophy, entitled ‘My Research Thoughts on…’.  This volume 3 continues where my previous second volume left off, so furthering the topic of the individual and collective into the political realm.

My overarching philosophical aim in this volume is to flesh out the feminist strand of my interpretation of Spinoza in relation to his hitherto under-researched Political Treatise. Throughout, I offer a positive and charitable reading of Spinoza’s original Latin, by analytically demonstrating how his philosophy should not be dismissed as expressing sexist ideas about women. Where pertinent, I provide an historical context to his concepts and arguments to illustrate and examine how the cogs of his political philosophy arguments work. Furthermore, I elaborate on how Spinoza can inform the philosophy of gender as well as feminist philosophy, feminist jurisprudence and feminism, especially intersectional feminism. Nevertheless, this is not to use Spinoza’s philosophy in a teleological way, as merely a means to end.

Although I have attempted to give quite a comprehensive understanding of the TP from a feminist perspective, I cannot claim to have left no stone unturned, covering every single passage of potential feminist or political interest in the TP. Nevertheless, I have attempted to put forward a method of feminist interpretation which can be applied to any section of the TP with much the same result as the ones I have selected for this volume, thus methodologically covering the whole TP.

Güç felsefesi, genel olarak insani yaşam dünyasında, özel olarak da politik alanın inşası ve sürdürülüşünde şu üç soruyu merkeze alan felsefe hattıdır. Şu üç soruya odaklanır: Güç nedir?; Güç, kontrol edilebilir mi?; Güçten vazgeçilebilir mi? Bu yazı, güç felsefesini ve sorularını birtakım popüler kültür ürünleri üzerinden ele almaktadır. / The philosophy of power is a line of philosophy that centres on the following three questions in the construction and maintenance of the human lifeworld in general and the political sphere in particular. It focuses on these three questions: What is power; Can power be controlled; Can power be relinquished? This article analyses the philosophy of power and its questions through a number of popular culture products.

The paper addresses the problem of the October Revolution and revolution as such in its historical, ideological and philosophical aspects. The unity of all three aspects and their mutual permeation is reflected in the question how the event of the October Revolution is inscribed into the history of the 20th century, considering that the latter was largely written by this event itself.  Being more than just an intra-historical event, revolution presupposes the transformation of history. Thus one needs to ask: What enables a self-transforming history? There is no supernatural force involved: it is rather that the subjectivity of society perceives history and the whole world as space for its own expansion and participation in power. In the context of world history as a self-establishing social power, even communism finally proves to be what it allegedly fights against: world imperialism. The thesis is based on Ivo Urbančič’s essay from 1971, ‘Lenin’s philosophy’ or Imperialism, and on recent discussions about the possibility of revolution today, which is mentioned in the last part of the article. The rampant imperial expansionism of society as subjectivity must give us pause with the question how there can persist a hope in the meaningfulness of humanity. Does anyone dare to offer resistance, perhaps to launch a revolution?

In this paper I shall approach to the problem of politic violence and peace from a metaphysical paradigm. I will discuss the question based on a definition of violence given by Paul Gilbert and its augustinian postulates. This definition will be tested on three levels. On the first place I describe what does it mean to talk about violence in metaphysics conceived as " first philosophy ". On the second place I try to recall the phenomenology of free will that Augustine establishes mainly in his book De libero arbitrio. Finally, I shall analyze political freedom and its substitution by the notion of " legality ". Therefore, it will be shown how a metaphysical perspective is useful in order to understand violence as a renouncement of the political, as the unilateral affirmation of individual liberty and, thus, as the negation of this precise liberty.

Confronted with the images that have been reaching us since the influx of refugees entered new dimensions last year in Europe, the term ‘Fortress Europe’ has been used over and over again to identify the continent’s concerns about security. What are we going to do with them? What do we know about them? All European governments seem to agree that a humanitarian state of urgency and emergency is on its way: a crisis of enormous proportions that is threatening the ‘soul’ and ‘authentic spirit’ of Europe. Across the Union, governments have struggled to develop an effective response, and mainly responded by transforming their borders into instruments of exclusion and prevention. This article discusses the centrality of the borders within the current political agenda, by conceptualising them as institutions of power, as processes of identity formation, and as performances. It focuses on the human costs of Fortress Europe, and its ongoing fight against the unwanted.

Для советских людей обвал советской системы стал одновременно абсолютной неожиданностью и чем-то вполне закономерным. Это драматическое событие обнажило необычный парадокс: несмотря на то, что большинство людей воспринимало советскую систему как вечную и неизменную, они в принципе были всегда готовы к ее распаду. В книге профессора Калифорнийского университета в Беркли Алексея Юрчака система «позднего социализма» (середина 1950-х – середина 1980-х) анализируется в перспективе этого парадокса. Образ позднего социализма, возникающий в книге, в корне отличается от привычных стереотипов, согласно которым советскую реальность якобы можно свести к описанию, основанному на простых противопоставлениях -- таких как: официальная/неофициальная культура, тоталитарный язык/свободный язык, политическое подавление/гражданское сопротивление, публичная ложь/скрытая правда и т.д.

The author analyses the interpretations of the knowledge of actus essendi from a Thomistic point of view given by Cornelio Fabro and Étienne Gilson. The two philosophers share a common background in their refusal of essentialism and in their defense of a real distinction between actus essendi and essentia. However, Gilson confuses actus essendi with existentia, whereas Fabro gives a more perspicuous interpretation of actus essendi. Yet Gilson's analysis of existential judgement seems to provide a good proof to the thesis of real distinction and can be conciliated with Fabro's interpretation.