Published: 15 January 2017
The conceptual sphere "power” (Macht) in the period of its formation within the German philosophical tradition, consolidation and development in the later philosophical, textbooks and reference works (discourse of power) is considered in the article. The description of the semantics of lingual networking (SLN) of S. A. Zhabotinskaya [Zhabotinskaya, S. A., 2013. P. 47-76] was chosen as a tool of our analysis attempt of the concept sphere "power”, thus allowing to describe the language in its relation to thinking with conceptual structures and cognitive operations. In order to build the network models a set of generalized conceptual structures (basic propositions) that are tracked in the meanings and forms of language units of different levels is used. The basic propositions are highlighted on the basis of lexical meaning of words and their usage contexts; they have the highest level of generalization, or arrangement and represent original categories of thinking and the relationship between them. The type of the propositional scheme is determined by its belonging to one of the five basic frames - subjective, actional, possessive, identification, comparative. The concept sphere "power” (Macht) is identified by basic propositions backed by the lexical meaning of words and usage contexts in accordance with the representations of all five basic frames - subjective, actional, possessive, identification, comparative. In the course of the study the generic characteristics of the power were identified, which include power («Vermogen») and potency («potenzia») of Immanuel Kant, the power («Kraft») of Henry Popica and Michel Foucault, extraordinary power («Starke») of Thomas Hobbes, potentiality («Potenzialitat») and possibility («Chance») of Max Weber, the social event («soziales Geschehen») of Hannah Arendt, the ability («Fahigkeit») of Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Niklas Luhmann, «power» of Hannah Pitkin. For Niklas Luhmann power is nothing else but a symbolically generalized medium of communication («symbolisch generalisiertes Kommunikationsmedium»).
