Abstract
The term “Power” is a very strange one. It can explain every human behavior, so it cannot explain any at all. But in our everyday life, it is often used for a persuasive explanation of our obvious doings. An attempt will be made to treat this very fact as a phenomenon in its own right. First, the semantical analysis of power will show that power relations consist in mutual knowledge between the parties about the source of power. If so, a third person will be able to report a power relation, when s/he can make an assumption that the parties have such knowledge. Second, the report by a third person is in itself constitutive for reality of power. That is, if reportable by a third person, power is real. Then the question will be: Under what condition might that mutual knowledge between the parties be displayed to the third person? This will be answered by reference to the membership categories and the turn taking system for conversation.
