180058 SE Lecture with reading on Social Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Gender Theory (2023W)

The concept of power is not only a key concept in political philosophy and social philosophy. It is also itself the subject of discursive struggles, which becomes evident in its different, sometimes even contradictory, definitions. Max Weber, for example, defines power as the assertion of the will over others, while Hannah Arendt locates power in people's talking-and-acting-together. On the one hand, power is determined as influencing others, using more or less violent means; on the other hand, power is understood positively as a form of empowerment and agency. And while power is usually understood in terms of repression and oppression, Michel Foucault emphasizes the productive character of polymorphous power relations that are constitutively linked to practices of subjectification and knowledge. The aim of the seminar is to critically elaborate the specifics of the different theories of power and to bring them into productive discussion with each other. The authors in focus will be Max Weber, Heinrich Popitz, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault and Amy Allen.

The seminar is designed as a theory-guided reading seminar. Didactic elements are - besides the joint discussion in the seminar - the close reading of texts, the regular writing of reading reflections and the peer feedback of the seminar paper concepts. A solid knowledge of the basics of scientific writing and the willingness to deal intensively with challenging theoretical texts are required.