The aim of this thesis is to resurrect interest in the concept of power in political theory by shedding light on some of its relatively unexplored discursive dimensions and developing a fresh approach to its understanding. Particularly, it studies an under-examined theme in the current literature, which, however, forms a crucial aspect determining different definitions of power: in what manner do different ways of thinking about power underpin variable conceptual formulations and theoretical interpretations of this key political concept? What types of cognitive, ideational and conceptual 'micro-processes' shape different ways of thinking about power in political thought? The thesis suggests novel interpretative possibilities that may be distilled from developing a hermeneutical approach extending across the dimensions of historical time and disciplinary space, by combining methodological insights from the fields of morphology, intellectual history and interdisciplinary study. To that end, it engages perspectives gleaned from historical treatments of power, as well as recent understandings of spatiality and force provided by scientific discourse. The concept of power is explored through the perspectives of (i) cultural historicity and (ii) interdisciplinarity. Along the axis of cultural historicity, the analysis studies Aristotle's classical concept of 'dunamis' as the original conceptual modality of power in political thought. Along the axis of interdisciplinarity, the examination explores the concept of force in the discourse of physics, and its parallel development in political thought. This dissertation shows that the exploration of those conceptual modalities can yield a new appreciation of certain diachronic and contingent conceptual features of power and enhance our understanding of the multifaceted discursive processes through which those form, including the underpinning 'micro-semantic', linguistic and ideational processes which contribute to the emergence of variable modes of thinking about power. In so doing, the thesis aims at illuminating our modern understanding of the concept, moving the scholarly discourse forward towards new horizons of meaning and interpretation.

Orientador: Edmur Azevedo Pugliesi / Resumo: A expansão urbana vem formando aglomerados populacionais desordenados, o que causa problemas para a administração municipal. A fim de reduzir este tipo de problema, uma das maneiras de reorganizar o território é o policentrismo, conceito que vem sendo aplicado em grande parte da área urbana de diversos países como Estados Unidos, China e países da Europa. O policentrismo pode ser entendido como uma área urbana com pluralidade de centros urbanos. Há duas abordagens para identificar possíveis centralidades: a morfológica e a funcional. Além disso, não foi encontrado quaisquer resultados de trabalhos científicos que tenham utilizado a variável inclinação do relevo nas análises de identificação de centralidades urbanas. Dessa maneira, a variável declividade pode ser um fator impactante na determinação de uma centralidade ou núcleo urbano para localidades brasileiras e que tenha característica similares da área de estudo. O objetivo desse trabalho propõe um estudo para a identificação de centralidades ou a possibilidade de identificar novos núcleos urbanos, por meio da avaliação da morfologia do terreno na formação de subcentros no município de Barra do Piraí no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Foram adquiridos arquivos vetoriais da base cartográfica do IBGE 2018, que posteriormente foram tratados e analisados. A fim de compreender a identificação de centralidades foram realizadas análises com a utilização da abordagem morfológica: Componentes Principais (CP), o Índice Global de ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The urban expansion has been creating disorderly population agglomerations, which causes problems for the municipal administration. In order to reduce this type of problem, one of the ways to reorganize the territory is polycentrism, a concept that has been applied in a large part of the urban area of several countries such as the United States, China, and countries in Europe. Polycentrism can be understood as an urban area with a plurality of urban centers. There are two approaches to identify possible centralities: the morphological and the functional. In addition, no results were found from scientific studies that have used the variable slope of relief in the analysis of identification of urban centralities. Thus, the slope variable can be an impacting factor in determining a centrality or urban nucleus for Brazilian locations and which has similar characteristics of the study area. The aim of this work proposes a study for the identification of centralities or the possibility of identifying new urban centers, through the evaluation of the morphology of the land in the formation of sub-centers in the municipality of Barra do Piraí in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Vector files were acquired from the IBGE 2018 cartographic base, which were later treated and analyzed. To understand the identification of centralities, analyzes were performed using the morphological approach: Principal Components (CP), the Moran Global Index, the Local Indicator of Spatial Association - ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre