I investigate the contemporary problem of obedience through an exploration of Michel Foucault and Étienne de La Boétie, showing how the former drew on the latter’s concept of voluntary servitude as a way of thinking through the paradoxical relationship between power, freedom and subjectivity. My argument is that Foucault’s theory of government as the ‘conduct of conduct’ may be understood as a reflection on the question of voluntary servitude. My aim here is twofold. First, it is to show that obedience is an ethical and political problem just as relevant today as it was in La Boétie’s time. Secondly, it is to suggest that voluntary servitude should be interpreted in an emancipatory way, as a problematic that reveals the ontological primacy of freedom and the fragility and instability of power. ‘Voluntary inservitude’ is something that can be expressed in acts of civil disobedience, and alternate modes of ethical conduct and association.

我通过对 Michel Foucault 和 Étienne de La Boétie 的探索来研究当代的服从问题，展示前者如何利用后者的自愿奴役概念作为一种思考方式，通过权力、自由和主观性之间的矛盾关系。我的论点是，福柯的政府作为“行为的行为”的理论可以被理解为对自愿奴役问题的反映。我在这里的目标是双重的。首先，它表明服从是一个伦理和政治问题，在今天和在 La Boétie 时代一样重要。其次，建议应以解放的方式解释自愿奴役，作为一个问题，揭示自由的本体论首要性和权力的脆弱性和不稳定性。