 | | | Status: Public | | Entries: 2 (Private: 0)
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| | Start Date: May 8, 2008
| Last Update: May 10, 2008
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| | Description: Me, standing up on my soap box and moralizing
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| | | | | The Will to Power | | | I have decided to start posting my interpretations of philosophical concepts, starting with Nietzsche. This will look like a refined vesion of posts I have made in the philosophy forum.
The Will to Power
Under Nietzchean metaphysics, reality is a permeation of the will to power. The will must not be understood as a force 'underlying', 'behind', or 'above' the world, but rather as the motion of nature itself. In the cause-and-effect relations between objects, the only outcomes can be assimilation, integration, refinement, disfigurement, displacement, or annihilation. Which depends on the strength of the objects involved, how much power and of what variety each applies against the others. The will, as a description of physical movement, is no more the 'essence' of reality than gravity or any other law of physics. However, acknowledgement of the will is important to Nietzsche's existential ideals in the same way acknowledgement of the laws of physics is instrumental to the ideals of science. Admitting the world is a cosmic power-struggle devoid of intrinsic meaning frees people from the sense they are making some oversight in their contemplation of things. Acceptance of the will to power equates with affirmation of life as it is. This allows individuals to quit searching for meaning in regions beyond sensory experience, and instead concentrate on building value tables reflective of their own natures.
A/N: Speaking of which, I think I will do Nietzsche's Table of Values next.
A/N: Regarding the comparison to the laws of physics -- epistemologically speaking, the will to power is not a scientific theory, but a logical one. |
| Against Selfishness | | | Selfishness
Humans naturally seek their own advantage, but those who make this movement in a straightforward fashion typically end up looking weak and foolish. That is, the existence of the incessantly selfish is a burden on both themselves and others. The former because selfish people are never pleased with their condition, or if so not for long, and the latter because prolonged exposure to concentrated discontent saps the enthusiasm out of more generous spirits. So even if egoism is the fundamental mode in human ideation, it should never be taken as a justification for selfishness. Instead, selfishness should be reserved for emergencies, such as the pursuit of one's love, while never being employed as a way of life, for that would surely drive off all but the most tolerant of loves. |
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