Byung-Chul Han, Foucault y el poder: una discusión en torno al neoliberalismo y la tensión dialéctica

Abstract

In Byung-Chul Han's critique of Foucault's approaches to power, one of Han's main theses is at stake: that the problems of contemporaneity lie in the loss of dialectical tension between the poles of the positive and the negative, as a consequence of the excessive promotion of the former and the elimination of the latter from all spheres of existence. According to Han, neoliberalism would be the paradigm of a kind power that does not operate from the norm or discipline, but from seduction and performance. Thus, any semblance of power that did not account for this essential feature would provide a partial reflection of contemporaneity. However, an analysis of both the critique against Foucault and his theses reveals a gaze that appreciates key aspects that Han, moved by an excessively polarized scheme, overlooks.