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How machiavelic it is to think everything is revolving around power. I haven’t read Foucault but I tend to think I’m more enclined towards other values, like mo
by gidan 7y ago
How machiavelic it is to think everything is revolving around power. I haven’t read Foucault but I tend to think I’m more enclined towards other values, like morale for example.
- OrderlyTiamat 7y agoBut he doesn't, there is a direct quote in the article about this very idea.
- agumonkey 7y agoI think it's an unstable equilibrium. In the right group/social context, some values lead the behaviors of people (love, morality, spirituality) but it doesn't take much to go back to negotiation/power.
- michalf6 7y agoI think otherwise, and thanks to this fact we are still alive today. Just think of the numerous false positives in the Cold War, where individual soldiers responsible for launching the nukes reverted back to their moral code, undermining the very power structure that depended on them to function.
- agumonkey 7y agoGood points but these are outliers IMHO. The context was extreme and also rare.
- abhiyerra 7y agoPower by itself isn't positive or negative. It is how power is used that has that. Morality, etc. are basically ways of actuating power.
- MR4D 7y agoTo add to your comment, it is also how power is obtained that is important. In other words, you can’t kill your way to power and then give away money to rescue your soul.
- coldtea 7y agoThe universe however doesn't care about souls (rescued or not). In other words, you can very much kill your way to power and then be fine (as to "how you sleep") with it. Even more, unless you overdo it like Hitler or Stalin, you can have other people (heck, history itself) be fine with it, and celebrate you as a great leader, a beautiful soul, etc...
- FakeComments 7y agoCitation? I mean, I know atheism is popular in some circles, but the presumption nothing cares about souls is a minority opinion.
- notadoc 7y ago> I haven’t read Foucault but No PoliSci 101 flashbacks? Foucault, Gaventa, Lukes, Nietzsche, Voltaire? Or maybe they have been supplanted with something?
- elvinyung 7y agoFoucault doesn't use the word "power" the way you think he does.
- coldtea 7y agoOne might be more inclined towards whatever value, but the world at large still revolves around power as it always did...
- adfgadfasa 7y agoThe article directly refutes the misconception that Foucault believes everything is about power. I know postmodernism isn't in favour with a lot of people, especially around here, but Foucault's ideas are profoundly interesting, and I strongly recommend you read him.
- FakeComments 7y agoI’m not a huge fan of postmodernism, but agree that Foucault is a worthwhile read — at least a bit.
- clairity 7y agothat's needlessly pessimistic. we're all bundles of values. power is the mechanism by which our values are expressed and used to change others, for better or worse. if you want to understand people, and especially organizations, you need to understand power.