In a colloquium co-sponsored by the Notre Dame government department and the Saint Mary's philosophy department, political philosopher Iris Marion Young said that power and violence are opposed to each other. Young based her discussion on a paper she wrote discussing an essay by Hannah Arendt on the nature of violence and power.

"Power requires communication. Violence is mute," Young said.

Young discussed that the commonly held idea of power, command and obedience is not really power. True power requires the consent of the people. Violence, on the other hand, usually weakens the true consent of the people.

"The use of violence in politics always endangers power," Young said.

Young used the background on power and violence lay down by Arendt to criticize official violence — "the use of violence by states in the name of carrying out their duties as states," according to Arendt.

"It is common to believe that the use of violence for the duties of the state is acceptable," Young said. "I challenge this."

Young encouraged a retrospective analysis of the use of official violence. She held that the only way to decide whether a violent act was justified was to look at its consequences.

Violence must be justified case by case through appeals to their consequences — prevention of a greater harm. Young said the effects of the violence must be "immediate

and contained."

Young said that the belief exists that police forces can exercise violence

at their discretion.

"I believe this belief is dangerous," said Young.

Young also criticized the use of military force for the preservation of human rights. Again, she believed the acts of violence caused by the military in these cases are not justified by default, but need to be examined on a case by case basis.

Following this background, the colloquium was opened for discussion. Young came to Saint Mary's as part of the Women in the Philosophical Landscape Lecture Series. She also spoke Thursday night in Stapleton Lounge on self-sufficiency, autonomy, and welfare justice.

She is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and studies public policy and feminist social thought.

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