A question over power.

physical power can be taken.

mental power can't in normal situations, but there are cases where it could be taken (like with drugs or future brain-altering equipment).

my opinion

Re: A question over power.
TTF

If the person has a gun to your head and tells you he is an hired killer, then he will shoot at you. He has all power over you.
Power in a relational concept. Power is control. Norriega had power, he controlled the population of Panama. Now he is in prison. His power - at least the kind of power he had - was taken away from him.
So, my answer is: power can be taken.

Seems to me exactly the opposite of what you propose:

Can power ever be given...or must it always be taken?

And to that...I would respond: It seems to me that power must always be taken and can never be given.

Wow Frank - I think we are star crossed brother!

I feel the other way completely. It seems this way to me. A gun is a great tool to persuade a person to give me power over them - but if I refuse and they shoot me - they can extinguish my power - but they cannot take it.

Meaning this - unless you are some sort of Highlander Character you cannot 'take' my life. Once you shoot me you have no extra power - or more power than you had before you shot me - you just extinguished my power.

I think it appears that you are taking my power with the gun - but I think you are persuading me to give it to you - and if I do not - you have nothing.

I love the reponses. It helps me so much to think about. I am not settled on this by any means.

TTF

Power can be given or taken. The difference is, it is easy to give power away, too easy, and difficult to take power. Generally, when we talk about someone taking power, they have really convinced people, over time, to give them little bits of power that seem insignificant but that add up quickly. If those folks try to take their power back, they have a difficult time, lots of hard work and vigilance ahead.

Maybe we need to define power before a discussion tike this. I would say that a person flinging a gun at you face is doing so because he is powerless, regardless of what he might say or think. Forcing people into submission is not exertion of power. Neither is it gaining power. It is just consuming it.

I am reminded of a converstation between Jock Ewing and his younger son, Bobby, in the long ago TV series, Dallas.

Bobby is berating Jock for giving elder brother, JR, more power [or authority] in the family business.

Jock grabs Bobby by the lapels and spits:

"Son, nobody gives you power (authority)...you take it."

To which I say: AMEN!

I think that in that case it would be more correct to say it was extorted. You could still refuse and then you would just be dead, but they wouldn't have power over you, if you could still be said to be someone over whom one could have power. In order for holding a gun to your to head to have any effect, you have to give power to that which they are taking hostage (i.e. your life). Similarly, power is only extorted by means of taking something that the other person has already embued with power hostage. And of course it is given freely.

Accepting that power is domination or control, it only exists within a relation between people.
We establish relations of domination, that change constantly. To give or take power, is nothing more than changing a relation of domination. This because power is not something I own, it's a domination I establish over someone.
If Stalin lived in a desert island he would have no power.
So, when we give power to someone or take it, we are creating or changing a given relation, between individuals or at a social level