Religion VS. Will To POWER: Philosophy Forums

Religion VS. Will To POWER

philodough
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Posted 10/17/06 - 02:53 PM: Subject: Religion VS. Will To POWER	#1
I recently read some of Nietzsche's work on Will To Power. He spoke of the uberman, the mensch as the strong: those in a constant state of becoming, since will to power is will to life. All people have this most basic desire (will to power) but if the strong are in a constant state of overcoming/becoming, what state are the weak in. Moreover could someone elaborate on WEAK and STRONG. From what I have read religion (now slowly being replaced by capitalism) is for the weak/lesser as a tool for distraction. As a means to ensure the seperation between weak and strong (but good and evil?). Any ideas?

Aven
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Posted 10/18/06 - 11:10 AM:	#2
From what I understand, Nietzsche views religion as a denial of life - incongruent with the will to power. He especially hated Christianity. He wrote in his Attempt at a Self-Criticism - prefacing The Birth of Tragedy: "Christianity was from the beginning, essentially and fundamentaly, life's nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed beihind, masked by, dressed up as, faith in "another" or "better" life. Hatred of "the world," condemnations of the passions, fear of beauty and sensuality, a beyond invented the better to slander this life, at bottom a craving for the nothing, for the end, for respite, for "the sabbath of sabbaths... the most dangerous and uncanny form of all possible forms of a "will to decline" - at the very least a sign of abysmal sickness, weariness, discouragement, exhaustion, and the impovershiment of life."

acumensch
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Posted 10/19/06 - 11:21 PM:	#3
basically, the strong are those who don't have to use some kind of morality in order to get others to treat them fairly. The strong already have power, they don't need a moral system to ensure that people are treated with fairness. Moral systems are basically substitutes for power, since those who use them cannot have power without them. The weak need to use some kind of device to get the strong to treat them with fairness. This device is a new morality. that is my abridged reading of Nietzsche on the strong and weak.
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rabeldin
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Posted 10/20/06 - 03:29 AM:	#4
So, to aspire to morality is to aspire to be weak?
Leave no assumption unquestioned.

acumensch
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Posted 10/20/06 - 10:54 AM:	#5
rabeldin wrote: So, to aspire to morality is to aspire to be weak? Yes. But, Nietzsche isn't saying that we can escape morality. He said that to get rid of morality is ultimately to replace one morality with another. Same, he says, about emotions. But what he wants is to go back to the innocent morality of the strong--the strong are the nobility--and replace the new morality with a refurbished version of the old morality. The old morality was untarnished by the subversive and wicked morality of the new weak morality.
Man is something to be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? http://utopiaorbust.wordpress.com

rabeldin
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Posted 10/20/06 - 11:00 AM:	#6
acumensch wrote: <br><br><br>Yes. <br><br>But, Nietzsche isn't saying that we can escape morality. He said that to get rid of morality is ultimately to replace one morality with another. Same, he says, about emotions. But what he wants is to go back to the innocent morality of the strong--the strong are the nobility--and replace the new morality with a refurbished version of the old morality. The old morality was untarnished by the subversive and wicked morality of the new weak morality.<br> The Communists did a number on us with their idea of a "classless society". Now people are ashamed of being smart, or strong, or rich, or skilled at anything. Now that is something to be ashamed of.
Leave no assumption unquestioned.

acumensch
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Posted 10/20/06 - 05:56 PM:	#7
communism is weakness on stilts.
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