The Mystery of Obedience. La Boétie, Foucault at the Margins of Power

The article reconstructs two different perspectives on the relation between power and servitude. The first part is dedicated to Étienne de La Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontarie and shows the voluntary aspect of servitude. The second part is dedicated to the Foucault’s concept of Dispositif and shows the involuntary aspect of servitude. The aim of the article is to show how the evolution of society has not gone hand in hand with the emancipation of citizens, but has, on the contrary, devised a new, less evident but no less pervasive, way of controlling people’s conscience.