Western thought has no representation of power outside the legal model

Evidence

Foucault wanted to rid us of a juridical representation of power, conceived of in terms of law, prohibition, and sovereignty, a clearing away that raises the question of how we are to analyze what has taken place in history without the use of this system of representation. On the other hand, Foucault wanted to carry out a more meticulous historical examination in order to show that in modern societies power has not in fact functioned in the form of law and sovereignty, a historical analysis that forces one to find another form of representation that does not depend on the juridical system. Therefore, one must, at one and the same time, while grving oneself another theory of power, form another grid of historical decipherment, and, while looking more closely at an entire historical material, advance little by little toward another conception of power. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 17 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Analyzing power requires abandoning the juridical-representation model entirely — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 17; Imperialism made power an end in itself rather than a means to law

Related

• Analyzing power requires abandoning the juridical-representation model entirely (similarity 0.93)
• The West has only ever theorized power through the legal-juridical lens (similarity 0.87)
• The juridical discourse of sovereignty has dominated Western analysis of power. (similarity 0.86)
• Foucault proposed war as the model for understanding political power (similarity 0.81)
• Foucault sought to break thought free of the sovereign-model of power (similarity 0.80)
• A new power mechanism, incompatible with sovereignty, was invented in the 17th-18th centuries (similarity 0.80)
• Power analysis must shift from sovereignty to relations of domination. (similarity 0.80)
• Foucault’s notion of power erases class and revolution (similarity 0.80)
• Western juridical thought was built around and for royal power. (similarity 0.79)
• Power analysis must begin from techniques of domination, not sovereignty (similarity 0.79)
• Juridical theory treats power as a commodity owned and alienable by contract. (similarity 0.79)
• Power is misimagined as exterior restriction rather than interior formation (similarity 0.79)
• Foucault’s power is sovereign because it originates from no external source (similarity 0.78)
• Treating power as repression is a clichéd inheritance from Hegel and Freud. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Analyzing power requires abandoning the juridical-representation model entirely #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 17
• Imperialism made power an end in itself rather than a means to law #exemplifies (0.78)