Will, Master, Slave

A main inspiration for some contemporary Oligarchical ideology is Nietzsche's analysis of Democracy as the revenge of the weak many against the strong few. That analysis is presented under the rubric of 'slave morality vs. master morality', an apparent evocation of Hegel's 'master-slave' dialectic. However, in the latter, the 'slave' triumphs not by diminishing the 'master', but by discovering self-sufficiency, i. e. the efficacy of one's own personal Will, as it as been rendered here. Consequently, the Hegelian slave no longer needs the master, in the same way, ironically, that the Nietzschean 'master' does not need the 'slave'. So, regardless of Nietzsche's own actual ambitions, today's Oligarchical critique of Democracy often resembles the revenge of a weakened ex-master against his erstwhile possessions.