A phenomenology of coercion and appeal

James L. Marsh

pp. 117-128

in: William Hamrick (ed), Phenomenology in practice and theory, Berlin, Springer, 1985

Abstract

One thread uniting many thinkers is the denial of any possible reciprocity among men. To the claim that one can teach another Socratically in such a way that the student becomes freer, one writer objects that such teaching is just a form of weak control, of positive reinforcement. To the notion that one can genuinely love another person in such a way that the person's very being is enhanced, another answers that such love is just a form of domination, of seducing away the other's very being and turning it into an object. Still another asserts that technocracy is the only rational form of government and that any plea for freedom, democracy or participation is anachronistic.¹