Sunday, July 28, 2013

Wil to Power, Morality, Potentism

Two of Nietzsche's innovative insights are: 1. A Moral doctrine is a product of the Will to Power, i. e. it is a model primarily designed to influence behavior, and 2. A Moral doctrine is the most potent expression of the Will to Power, i.e. the impact on human history of the deeds and words of Moses, Christ, Buddha, Socrates, Mohammed, etc. is unsurpassed by an other endeavor.  Together, the two imply the fundamental proposition of his later oeuvre--the Will to Power is a Moral doctrine, i. e. it formulates a model designed to invigorate the course of European civilization as hitherto constituted.  For want of a better terminology, that doctrine can be called 'Potentism', with the promotion of maximum Potency its fundamental principle.  Now, two tasks integral to any introduction of a new doctrine are a critique of rival doctrines, and a demonstration of its application.  Nietzsche's version of the former is his 'revaluation of all values', e. g. in the Anti-Christ, he exposes Christian Pity as a debilitating emotion.  However, an explicit systematic presentation of the application of Potentism is absent, thereby contributing to the general lack of recognition that the Will to Power is itself a Moral doctrine that is the underlying theme of his post-Zarathustra oeuvre.

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