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Single Idea 23812
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 1. Social Power
]
Full Idea
To define 'force' - it is that x that turns anybody who is subjected to it into a thing. Exercised to the limit, it turns man into a thing in the most literal sense: it makes a corpse out of him.
Gist of Idea
Force is what turns man into a thing, and ultimately into a corpse
Source
Simone Weil (The Iliad or the Poem of Force [1940], p.183)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.183
A Reaction
She celebrates The Iliad as the great examination of force in human affairs. I have felt that sense of reduction to a thing whenever anyone above me in the hierarchy has arbitrarily exerted their power over me.
The
23 ideas
with the same theme
[ways in which states control their citizens]:
21132
|
Domination is probable obedience by some group of persons
[Weber]
|
23831
|
The essence of power is illusory prestige
[Weil]
|
23812
|
Force is what turns man into a thing, and ultimately into a corpse
[Weil]
|
23866
|
In oppressive societies the scope of actual control is extended by a religion of power
[Weil]
|
23857
|
People in power always try to increase their power
[Weil]
|
7425
|
The aim is not to eliminate power relations, but to reduce domination
[Foucault]
|
8991
|
Foucault can't accept that power is sometimes decent and benign
[Foucault, by Scruton]
|
15040
|
Marxists denounced power as class domination, but never analysed its mechanics
[Foucault]
|
15041
|
Power doesn't just repress, but entices us with pleasure, artefacts, knowledge and discourse
[Foucault]
|
22850
|
Hidden powers are the most effective
[Lukes]
|
22852
|
The pluralist view says that power is restrained by group rivalry
[Lukes]
|
22854
|
Power is a capacity, which may never need to be exercised
[Lukes]
|
22855
|
One-dimensionsal power is behaviour in observable conflicts of interests
[Lukes]
|
22856
|
Political organisation brings some conflicts to the fore, and suppresses others
[Lukes]
|
22860
|
The evidence for the exertion of power need not involve a grievance of the powerless
[Lukes]
|
22857
|
The two-dimensional view of power recognises the importance of controlling the agenda
[Lukes]
|
22859
|
Power can be exercised to determine a person's desires
[Lukes]
|
22861
|
Power is affecting a person in a way contrary to their interests
[Lukes]
|
22863
|
Power is the capacity of a social class to realise its interests
[Lukes]
|
21133
|
Supreme power is getting people to have thoughts and desires chosen by you
[Lukes]
|
23103
|
Power is meant to be confined to representatives, and subsequent delegation
[Kekes]
|
23263
|
Politics is driven by power cliques
[Grayling]
|
21135
|
There are eight different ways in which groups of people can be oppressed
[Shorten, by PG]
|