The Concept of Power in Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault: A Comparative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36311/2237-7743.2017.v6n2.07.p344Palavras-chave:
PowerResumo
The concept of power has been the focus of discussion of many thinkers that attempted to understand who are their agents, how it is created and what are its main goals. In this scenario, Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt have its respective and relevant conceptions of power and how it is expressed in our contemporary society. For the first thinker, power is everywhere and it is exercised in everyday life. For the german philosopher, power is expressed collectivelly. Therefore, the main goal of this essay is to analyse and compare their respective conceptions of power, especially how they understand resistance and violence. In this sense, by using bibliographic resources, this essay is a descriptive and comparative study about the conceptions of power for Hannah Arendt and for Michel Foucault. By a hypothetical-deductive approach, it is understood that the two conceptions are complementary since the French philosopher has a broader concept and Hannah Arendt offers more tools to analyse the possibility of resistance to power. In fact, the two thinkers offer us tools to comprehend power as a positive, criative and fluid factor.
Keywords: Power; Michel Foucault; Hannah Arendt.
Resumo: O conceito de poder tem sido foco de discussão de muitos pensadores que tentam entender seus agentes, como é criado e quais são seus objetivos. Neste cenário, Michel Foucault e Hannah Arendt possuem suas respectivas e relevantes contribuições sobre o que é poder e como ele é expresso na nossa sociedade contemporânea. Para o primeiro pensador, o poder está em todos os lugares e é exercício cotidianamente. Para a pensadora alemã, o poder é expressado por uma coletividade. O objetivo deste artigo, portanto, é analisar e comparar suas visões sobre poder, sobretudo sobre como entendem resistência e violência. Dessa forma, partindo de fontes bibliográficas, realiza-se um estudo descritivo e comparado das visões de poder para Hannah Arendt e Michel Foucault. Com abordagem hipotética-dedutiva, compreende-se que as duas concepções podem ser consideradas como complementares uma vez que o filósofo francês possui um conceito mais amplo que Hannah Arendt e esta contribui melhor para se analisar a possibilidade de resistência ao poder. De fato, estes dois autores nos possibilitam compreender o poder enquanto fator positivo, criador e fluído.
Palavras-chave: Poder; Michel Foucault; Hannah Arendt.
Recebido em: agosto/2016.
Aprovado em: agosto/2017.
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