Thursday, August 11, 2011

For The Intellectuals Among You

Does a socialist nanny-state subvert the Nietzschean will-to-power in either an individual or in a society?

Discuss. :-)

8 comments:

Steve USMA '85 said...

No

Darren said...

Great discussion points! :-)

David Foster said...

Of course not.

Benjamin Franklin observed that two of the most powerful human drives are *the desire for wealth* and *the desire for power* and that it is very dangerous to create an environment in which these two are necessarily coupled. Which, of course, is exactly what socialism does.

Darren said...

I'll agree with you that that's what it does for the ruling class, but what about for the masses? What about those who become and stay dependent on government?

David Foster said...

There will always be a hierarchy of some sort among the "masses"...this will inevitably be based on to some extent on talent and accomplishment, if the society is not to collapse totally, but it will be largely based on sucking up and saying the accepted things.

If you were a shift supervisor in a Soviet-era factory, or a foreman on a collective farm, you weren't exactly a member of the Ruling Class, but you *would* enjoy economic privileges as well as power. And if you wanted to retain those privileges (and your life!), you'd *better* meet your production targets, and you'd *better* say the right things.

Darren said...

While that's true, no one has yet addressed Nietzsche's concept of "will to power", which is more than just "I want power". Nothing anyone's written so far compels me to believe that socialism creates an "ubermensch".

PestoDave said...

Forgive my ignorance, what is the Nietzschean will-to-power?"

PestoDave

Darren said...

Look up the ideas of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.