The Philosophy of Friedrich NietzscheMencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
Philosophy
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900; Philosophy, German -- 19th century
Nietzsche argues from this that it is absurd to put the stigma of evil
upon the mere symptoms of the great struggle. "In itself," he says,
"an act of injury, violation, exploitation or annihilation cannot be
wrong, for life operates, essentially and fundamentally, by injuring,
violating, exploiting and annihilating, and cannot even be conceived
of out of this character. One must admit, indeed, that, from the
highest biological standpoint, conditions under which the so-called
rights of others are recognized must ever be regarded as exceptional
conditions--that is to say, as partial restrictions of the instinctive
power-seeking will-to-live of the individual, made to satisfy the
more powerful will-to-live of the mass. Thus small units of power are
sacrificed to create large units of power. To regard the rights of
others as being inherent in them, and not as mere compromises for the
benefit of the mass-unit, would be to enunciate a principle hostile to
life itself."[6]
Nietzsche holds that the rights of an individual may be divided into
two classes: those things he is able to do despite the opposition of
his fellow men, and those things he is enabled to do by the grace and
permission of his fellow men. The second class of rights may be divided
again into two groups: those granted through fear and foresight, and
those granted as free gifts. But how do fear and foresight operate
to make one man concede rights to another man? It is easy enough to
discern two ways. In the first place, the grantor may fear the risks
of a combat with the grantee, and so give him what he wants without
a struggle. In the second place, the grantor, while confident of
his ability to overcome the grantee, may forbear because he sees in
the struggle a certain diminution of strength on both sides, and in
consequence, an impaired capacity for joining forces in effective
opposition to some hostile third power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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