CAUSES & POWER:The Illusion of Efficiency

What is Power?

Power to control. . .

Power to do. . .

Power to change things. . .

Power = Force

“The capacity to get work done is perhaps the simplest definition of power.”

James Hillman, Kinds of Power (30)

“Power requires efficiency to maintain itself.”

James Hillman, Kinds of Power, 33

“Treblinka was the largest of five camps built exclusively for the purpose of extermination. According to a most conservative estimate these camps killed close to 3 million people in 17 months.”

Hillman, Kinds of Power, 33

That’s efficiency

FOUR KINDS OF CAUSES

Formal Final Material Efficient

Think of a statue. . .

The Sculptor = Efficient Cause

produces changes . . .

Brass = Material Causeto a block of brass. . .

Sculpture = Final Causeto create a beautiful object . . .

Idea = Formal Causewith the idea of a statue in mind.

Aristotle’s formal cause (the idea) begins to fade. . . .

By the time of John Locke (17th cent.), the efficient cause is the sole answer to the question, ‘why?’

The efficient cause makes things happen.

It governs all events.

Without its partners it can lose all touch with the reality of life.

Problems with efficiency as the first principle:

Short-term thinking, no looking ahead.

Means become ends.

We must ask. . . .We must ask. . . .

What is the purpose for which our efficient actions are performed?

What is the purpose for which our efficient actions are performed?