Domination
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Theories of domination understand the value of justice, freedom, and equality by examining their absence: they try to clarify and systematize our judgments about what it means to be vulnerable, debased, or defenseless before unchecked power. Associated with the republican tradition and with Philip Pettit's ideal of freedom as non-domination, the approach treats domination as a status rather than a series of interfering acts.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- See through power: ask not whether interference occurs but whether arbitrary power exists. - Revalue freedom: reassess how free an institution is by the standard of exposure to arbitrary power. - Locate vulnerability: find who stands defenseless in which relation, and specify what protections are needed.
Anchor fast decisions
What matters in domination is not that interference is exercised but that the power relation exists: one party can interfere arbitrarily with the other, and the other cannot resist. Even a benevolent master who never beats his slave dominates him, since the slave's security depends on another's goodwill. Reading domination as status rather than act explains how structures and norms systematically produce subjection.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/domination/verified
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