The Hermeneutics of Weakness: The Case of Ethical and Political Discourse

Abstract

The article examines the concept of weakness within the framework of the phenomenological and hermeneutical approach. Two research questions are posed: 1. What is weakness as an experience of the subject? 2. How does our understanding of weakness influence our ethical and political conceptions? First, the article provides a characterization of the phenomenon of weakness,  using phenomenological methods. The author explores how weakness can be understood and how it differs from other, related notions (e.g., vulnerability). Weakness will be defined as a lack or serious limitation in agency – in the ability to act. Next, the author investigates how the concept of weakness has been historically incorporated into European ethical and political theory, drawing on hermeneutic methodology. Writings from the history of European philosophy that are representative of their respective eras were analyzed, focusing on how they illustrate the relationship between weakness and agency, as well as the political and moral consequences of this connection. This incorporation occurred primarily through the notion of weakness of the will, and secondarily through the neoliberal discourse of empowerment, viewed as a means of overcoming one’s own weakness. Judith Butler's writings are an important point of reference in this case. In conclusion, the article argues for the necessity of new ethical and political attitudes toward one’s own weakness. 

Keywords: weakness, phenomenology, hermeneutics, strength, power, vulnerability, will