Is the force and the power always good? Reflection on the book “Powerlessness” by Elena Kosilova

Abstract

The article is about the reflection on the book “Powerlessness” by Elena Kosilova a Russian philosopher, who set herself a difficult task: to analyse the phenomenon of the powerlessness from a philosophical point of view. Attention is drawn to the non-triviality of the very statement of the issue. The author postulates powerlessness not as a lack of power, but as a supreme value, contrasting it with Nietzschean “will to power”. She also considers such aspects such as the existential attitude to powerlessness; the relation between powerlessness and consciousness, understanding and thinking; finally, powerlessness and asceticism and powerlessness and human subjectivity. The paper is describing the states that allow the subject to exist in the world under the condition of an attitude of powerlessness: escapism, values, passivity, understood as being before and open to the Other, and finally, the ability to say “no”. The paradox of the powerlessness attitude is emphasised. The powerlessness requires great strength and will on the part of the subject, even if those will and strength are invisible to the observer.