Thursday, May 26, 2016

Group and Beyond Good and Evil

In Freudian terms, Nietzsche's concept of 'Beyond Good and Evil', Ego is the source of its own Superego, i. e. one gives oneself rules of conduct.  That structure can also apply to the members of collectives such as Kant's Kingdom of Ends, and Socialism.  Now, in Freud's concept of a basic Group, the leader functions as Superego to the Egos that are its members.  But, in one variation of a Group, a Mass, i. e. a mob, the leader functions as Ego, while the Egos of its members are dissolved, and they become pure Ids.  So, absent any Superego, the source of standards of Good and Evil, a Mass has also been characterized as 'Beyond Good and Evil'--because no rules of conduct are observed by anyone involved--thus not in the sense intended by Nietzsche.  This misrepresentation of Nietzsche's phrase has been instrumental in some subsequent horrors, as well as some less deadly abuses.

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