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Single Idea 4506

[filed under theme 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 Ref

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.


The 8 ideas with the same theme [morality deriving from psychological drives]:

Moral rules are made by the weak members of humanity [Plato]
The self is, apart from outward behaviour, a drive in your nature [Fichte]
Ultimately, all being is willing. The nature of primal being is the same as the nature of willing [Schelling]
A morality ranks human drives and actions, for the sake of the herd, and subordinating individuals [Nietzsche]
All animals strive for the ideal conditions to express their power, and hate any hindrances [Nietzsche]
There is a conspiracy (a will to power) to make morality dominate other values, like knowledge and art [Nietzsche]
The basic tendency of the weak has always been to pull down the strong, using morality [Nietzsche]
The 'will to power' is basically applied to drives and forces, not to people [Nietzsche, by Richardson]