Abstract

After dealing with the distinctive features of works in philosophy of law, the author maintains that the research Bruno Montanari has dedicated to "La fragilità del potere" belongs to a very lively field of studies. Montanari's originality consists in paying attention to the reasons why human beings long for power and not only to the question of power itself. A sociological and historical approach is thus integrated with an anthropological and existential analysis and with a deep interest for literature and theater. The reasons why power is fragile consist in human being's finitude and need to use others both as pedestals and as limits to overcome in order not to surrender to death; they also consist in the impossibility of doing without those who are the object or support of power.