The Semantics, Ethics, and Rhetoric of ‘Resist’: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage Analysis

This article applies the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) to define resistance in both everyday usage and Foucauldian jargon. In doing so, it becomes clear that, while resistance is usually nonpartisan—two political actors can equally resist one another—in its Foucauldian sense, resistance entails the creation of new potentialities by subjects. Under this definition, Foucault effectively makes the ethical claim that resistance is a deontological good in which we are obliged to partake. The article considers the limits of this claim in relation to philosophical pessimism and modern left- and right-wing populism, before concluding that other kinds of activism are necessary to actualise those potentialities that will benefit the world.