Analysis of a possible intellectual affinity between philosopher Michel Foucault and political theorist Hannah Arendt is valuable in its own right, given the insight it offers into the work of these two important thinkers. At the same time, certain aspects of such an affinity are especially important because of what they illustrate about the unique ways in which harm manifests itself within the context of modern societies, and about how the terrain of modernity might be negotiated such that harm is minimized and the practice of freedom is promoted.1 Of particular interest in this regard is the attitude toward modernity…