The Will to Power
&
Master – Slave Morality
Nietzsche’s moral
The “death” of God would lead to the loss of any
universal perspective of things and any coherent
sense of objective truth.
There is a God in each of us, waiting to be born.
Modernity
 Nietzsche
saw himself as the first to recognize the
symptoms of a profound sickness at the core of
modernity.
 Modernity refers to the historical period of the
nineteenth and twentieth century nation-states and to
a corresponding set of cultural conditions and beliefs
dominated by Enlightenment ideals.
 Modernity includes faith in science, objective truth
and rationality; expectations of inevitable progress;
capitalism, urbanization, and large-scale industrial
enterprise; mass literacy, media, and culture; political
democracy; and secularization.
The Problem of Morality
 Nietzsche
accuses modern culture of being moralistic:
expressing moral sentiments that conflict with one’s behavior
and equating those expressions with virtuous living.
 Being moralistic is a form of hypocrisy, an ego defense
mechanism that attempts to prevent dangerous desires from
being exposed by endorsing opposite types of behavior as
“barriers” against them.
 In Nietzsche’s view, modernity is anti-life and anti-nature in
this moralistic sense. Modern Christian moralities – and all
are Christian – show symptoms of this “décadence,” this
decay.
Psychological Motivators
 Nietzsche
believes that humans are always attempting to
inflict their wills upon others.
 Every action toward another individual stems from a deepdown desire to bring that person under one's power in one way
or another.
 Whether a person is giving gifts, claiming to be in love with
someone, giving someone praise, or physically harming
someone, the psychological motive is the same: to exert one's
will over others.
The Will to Power
 Nietzsche
concludes in the very last lines of The Will to
Power:
. . . --do you want a name for this world? A solution for
all its riddles? A light for you, too, you best-concealed,
strongest, most intrepid, most midnightly men?--This
world is the will to power--and nothing besides! And you
yourselves are also this will to power--and nothing
besides!
(Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power)
The Will to Power
 Individuals
do not have the courage or strength to act in
violent ways toward one another because of the JudeoChristian ethical/moral code that has become ingrained in
them. In other words, they cannot exert their will to power in
the violent ways which they otherwise would naturally.
 Feelings of potential guilt and fear of punishment (whether
institutional or in a life beyond) for breaking moral and legal
rules prevent them from acting in such a manner.
The Will to Power
 Nietzsche
highly disapproves of any society which is operated
on the premises of equal rights and/or universal suffrage, or
in other words, any society in which the majority maintains
power in one way or another.
 Socialism, democracy, and anarchism all rest on the idea that
there are no great or superior individuals, and therefore
Nietzsche rejects them all. These forms of society represent
nothing more than the rule of the herd; the rule of mediocrity.
 Nietzsche rejects such forms of society in favor of the
aristocratic ideal, which values a higher form of man; a model
for society which does in fact demonstrate a belief in great
and talented individuals and an elite class.
The Will to Power
 However,
simply using violent force to bring another under
one's power, though it is the most natural and instinctive
method, is not always the most successful. Bringing other
individuals under one's power is not the same thing as simply
causing them physical harm. It takes much more than that:
there is an ever more subtle sense of how hard it is really
to
incorporate another: while a crude injury done him
certainly demonstrates our power over him, it at the same
time estranges his will from us even more--and thus
makes him less easy to subjugate.
(Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power)
The Will to Power
it what you wish – objectivity, truth, or wisdom –
Nietzsche says the single goal of science, religion, and
philosophy is the exertion of power. It is “mendacious” for
anyone to think of themselves as disinterested spectators
capable of objective judgment. And Nietzsche equates such
will to truth to the will to power.
 As Nietzsche says, “This world is the will to power – and
nothing besides! And you yourselves are also this will to
power – and nothing besides!”
 Those moralities which pretend to be objective, to be
something other than a manifestation of the will to power, are
sick, degenerate, and decadent.
 Call
The Will to Power
It is the only law and the only “morality”.
 It
applies to all living things. The pressure for survival or
adaptation is less important than the desire to expand one’s
power.
 Living
in itself appears as a subsidiary aim, something
necessary to promote one’s power.
 The
notion of the will to power is contrasted by Nietzsche
with that of utilitarianism, which claims all people want
fundamentally to be happy.
The Will to Power
 Humans
are divided into a natural aristocratic group and a
naturally dependent and inferior one, which are always
opposed. Exploitation is a natural consequence of the will to
power.
 Superior
people express the will to power, taking advantage
of their natural gifts to achieve their full potential and
dominance over others.
use different ideologies, or “slave moralities”,
to try to deny the will to power.
 Inferior people
expressing the will to power – truly living – can’t be
“wrong”.
 Self
Master Morality
 Master
morality is the original system of morality.
 This is the morality of the SUPERIOR PEOPLE. They are
BEYOND GOODAND EVIL. They believe that “what is
injurious to them is injurious in itself”.
 Good is associated with wealth, strength, health, inspiring
fear and power. It means power-enhancing, tending to the
full development of natural ability.
 Bad is related with the lack of power, poor, weak, sick and
pathetic. It means contemptible, power-diminishing, tending
to the artificial limitation of natural ability.
 To fulfill full human potential, the noble soul lives according
to the first law of nature: the Will to Power.
Slave Morality
 Slave
morality is a social illness. It is essentially a morality
of utility.
 This is the morality of the INFERIOR PEOPLE.
 Most slaves choose to be victims. This morality favours a
limited existence. It “makes the best of a bad situation”. It
promotes virtues such as pity, the complaisant and obliging
hand, warm heart, patience, humility and friendliness, which
serve to ease existence for those who suffer.
 Good is related to charity, pity, restraint, and subservience. It
means “tending to ease suffering”.
 Evil is seen in the cruel, selfish, wealthy, indulgent and
aggressive. It means “tending to inspire fear”.
Discussion Questions
 ‘Every
action toward another individual stems
from a deep-down desire to bring that
person under one’s power in one way or
another.’ Write a paragraph discussing
whether you agree or disagree with this
statement. Do you think it is fundamentally
true?
 Which part of Neitzsche’s theory did you find
the most confronting or challenging? Why?
Discussion Questions
 What
were Nietzsche's central arguments concerning the
“profound sickness at the core of Modernity”? Do you agree?
 What do you believe Nietzsche would say if he were an
observer in Lester’s street in American Beauty for the course
of the movie? Make specific comments on the major events of
the movie and provide a character analysis from his
perspective.
 Do you believe there is some merit in Nietzche’s philosophy?
 What would be the outcome if everyone followed his way of
thinking?