Friday, November 25, 2016

History, Happiness, Power

According to the standard model in the Modern Era, the function of the formation of a Polity is to maximize the pursuit of Happiness of the Individual.  But, historicizing this process re-conceives the latter as having being liberated from preceding Oligarchical conditions, in the context of which entering into collaborative construction with others can, thus, be interpreted as in itself a process of Empowerment.  Now, Kantian Autonomy reflects a recognition of that historical development.  However, he is unable to completely jettison the pursuit of Happiness as a fundamental motivation, leaving him needing to combine the two goals as the telos of History, i. e. a Happiness that humans make for themselves, not one that is merely fortuitous.  Marx, too, rejects fortuitous Happiness as a complement to human Labor in the achievement of his concept of a goal of History, but replaces it with Necessary Happiness, i. e. Dialectical resolution.  In contrast with both, Nietzsche eliminates the complementary factor, with the result that Empowerment is the sole principle of these Historical developments, with Happiness nothing distinct from that principle, i. e. he conceives it as a concomitant of Power.

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