Testimoni di libertà. Spunti di simbolica politica a partire da alcune pagine kierkegaardiane

According to a conventional view of political relations, the connection between power and sovereignty, between suffering and martyrdom, seems to be decisive. And yet, it is far from decisive. Starting out from some pages of Søren Kierkegaard in which power does not deny pathos, and pathos does not exclude power, this paper focuses on the categorical function of martyrdom, capable of enlivening consensus when public dynamics are reduced to pure domination, on the one hand, and pure servitude on the other. In freely disposing to passion, martyrdom acts both as an ideal presupposition and as a limit condition always present in the background of political systems – whether they’re willed by God, by Modern Reason, by the People. His figure challenges political power to suffer, demanding the most provocative and evocative possible, thus invoking a passionate correspondence between those who command and those who obey in the legitimation of political obligation.