Single Idea 4506

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / g. Will to power]

Full Idea

Whose will to power is morality? - Since Socrates there has been a sustained attempt to make moral values dominate over other values, so that they guide living, but also knowledge, the arts, and political and social endeavour.

Gist of Idea

There is a conspiracy (a will to power) to make morality dominate other values, like knowledge and art

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §274)

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Will to Power', ed/tr. Kaufmann,W /Hollingdate,R [Vintage 1968], p.156


A Reaction

Is the 'will to power' really an explanation? If all human activity is the will to power, then you have to explain the difference between activities. Genocide and altruism are strikingly different manifestations of the will to power.