Resumen

AVILA FUENMAYOR, Francisco. The Concept of Power in Ernesto Mayz-Vallenilla. Revista de Ciencias Sociales [online]. 2008, vol.14, n.3, pp.635-650. ISSN 1315-9518.

The purpose of this article is to show the principle aspects related to power, framed in the gnosiological thought of Ernesto Mayz-Vallenilla, a man of great philosophical ancestry. The research is of a documentary character, because it rests on a bibliographical review of his principle works. The question of thirst for power, as the root of technology, is one of the thorny problems that our author takes on at great length and tries to sketch an ethic in the face of man’s uncontrollable use of the instruments of technology. This, as it constitutes a product directed by Reason, has its origin in what our author calls “transcendental subjectivity.” It is interesting to highlight that whatever modality the thirst for power might assume, a relation between two or more terms should exist: these are the emitting agent and the receiving agent. If the conditions are given, the emitting agent achieves mastery over the receiving agent, giving way to fulfillment of the mandate; that is, mastery reveals itself as obedience on the latter’s part when complying with the order.

Palabras clave : Thirst for power; technology; mastery; reason.