31/07/2024
The unimpeded intentionality of living systems, including especially human beings, is self-realization and self-actualization, the fulfillment of genetic potential or possibilities. This intentionality must be empowered to be realized. Thus, to paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche, "Wherever we find the will to live, there we find the will to power." Power is essential to our existence and the most influential factor in determining our quality of life. As Wartenberg contends, "Power is one of the central phenomena of human social life." And as Parenti argues, "All sorts of interpersonal [and we may add, intergroup] relationships can be seen as involving power, including between lovers or between parent and child." Power! There is no escaping its presence in some form. There is no escaping its use by others to influence in some form our person, our minds and behavior and our own use of it to influence the persons, minds and behavior of others. We deny the ubiquity of power to our peril. It does not vanish from reality or lose its influence by our refusal to acknowledge its existence. Therefore, we are behooved to recognize its permanent reality and make the best of it, control it and use it to good purpose. Power in and of itself "can be both a detrimental and a beneficial aspect of social relationships" and can be made to play "the negative as well as the positive role... in the constitution of human social life" (Wartenberg).
Power can be utilized to achieve personal, social, political and material ends if it is appropriately developed, organized and applied. The question of whether power is beneficial or harmful can only be answered in regard to the specific use to which it is put in a particular situation.
