Monday, July 29, 2013

Potentism, Slave Morality, Master Morality, Morality of Self-Mastery

The representation, previously proposed here, of the Will to Power as the Moral doctrine 'Potentism', with the maximization of Potency its principle, facilitates evaluations of three types of doctrine that Nietzsche entertains, two of which it is sometimes identified with.  Slave Morality is deficient insofar as it stifles the creativity of exceptional types.  Master Morality is deficient, conversely, insofar as it exploits, abuses, or neglects the lower classes.  And, while the Morality of Self-Mastery might promote the maximum Potency of an individual, the scope of that exercise of Power is limited to that locus, e. g. a moment of Self-Control is deficient in comparison with a moment of Self-Control that is intended to, at the same time, serve as an example to others.  So, none of the three, despite apparent textual support to the contrary, especially in the cases of Master Morality and the Morality of Self-Mastery, is equivalent to Potentism.

No comments:

Post a Comment