Topics Justice

Question Is power (its nature, its use, its definition) a philosophical issue? It seems as if the social sciences have appropriated "power" to themselves. I think that often power is presented as being everywhere, in every human relation, and that its use borders on obscurantism insofar as it substitutes the need for more detailed explanations of social problems. Is this right? Is there an alternative? How should philosophy address power and power relations? Should it do so? Andrés.

Accepted:
July 29, 2010

Comments

Yes, the social sciences certainly have been involved in the definition and study of power (e.g. Max Weber analyzed power in terms of command and obedience structures and came up with different models of power relations). Philosophers have sometimes taken on power as a topic in itself (e.g. see Power by Bertrand Russell), but the philosophical work on power is more commonly found in the different branches of philosophy. In epistemology we look at cognitive power (what can we know and how do we know it? what are the limits of our cognitive power?), in political philosophy and ethics we look at the ethics and morality of power relations (what form of government is morally acceptable? what acts are unjust or just?), in metaphysics and philosophy of science we might look at power in the natural world (what is causation? laws of nature?), in philosophy of religion power may be considered in the context of the divine (what is omnipotence? are there any limits on omnipotence?), and so on.

Going on a bit further: you ask about the scope of power. Is it present everywhere? That is a very difficult question to address, as there are all sorts of types of power (the power to know, to see, to move, to love or hate, and so on). I think the most promising form of inquiry would be to follow up on your reference to "detailed explanations of social problems." So, rather than inquire into power in general, it would be more helpful to be more specific: for example, is some given property right (and thus the power of the owner to control something) in a given society just or unjust?