抄録
The notion of intersubjectively generated power enables us to distinguish power from compelling force or violence. However, it seems that such power rarely exists in reality. No one but Arendt who is the first to conceputualize this power in our time insists on the decline of “public space” and “action” which are indispensable for it. Through constructing an imaginary controversy between Arendt and Habermas, this paper shows that, while Habermas comes close to fallig into an inconsistency, he seeks to reconcile the notion of intersubjectively generated power with reality and that through the reconciliation, he gives us the principles that guide our efforts to realize such power.
