Dominance and Self-Control of a Psychopathic Cannibal

For this assignment, I was asked to create an essay demonstrating my knowledge from the semester, by elaborating on the topics discussed in class on philosophers of morality. The philosopher that maximized my attention was Friedrich Nietzsche. Per Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nietzsche wrote on “on truth, morality, language, aesthetics, cultural theory, history, nihilism, power, consciousness, and the meaning of existence.” (Wilkerson) Nietzsche’s work on morality, titled Master and Slave Morality implemented questions I have pondered in regards to the choice of who controls power in the world, because it is often that those control power assumed their position by bullying those who pose a threat, thus inciting an inferior feeling. A question that reoccurred while studying Nietzsche was “how do the people who are forced in to his master/slave complex break free of their master’s grips?” The answer to my question is also in Nietzsche’s work, and is titled Transvaluation of Values. Transvaluation of Values occurs when the slave class over throws or resists their masters, (a flip in power structure) therefore those who are placed in the roll of slaves due to their values, and beliefs will continue to break free of their oppression, because of the opportunity named Transvaluation of Values.

Any person could say in one point of their life they have wanted power and authority. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the tragedy starts off with a loyal subject named Macbeth who is crowned Thane of Cawdor. Once Macbeth was crowned Thane, he wanted something greater, something superior, and to do that he had come up with the idea to kill, even though he was fearful of being caught. The most superior person that everyone was loyal too and loved the king. Macbeths want for that power is later turned into corruption. The corruption of power inside Macbeth turns his loyal side to a cruel,darker, and malicious side. The desire for power can corrupt loay subjects by relying on fear to maintain one’s position. In Macbeth, our protagonist, at

What holds the power to smite any foe, surmount any obstacle, or craft any fear? In a single word, ambition. Ambition is the fuel of the human heart, enabling a drive that keeps the evolution of mankind forward past any conceivable boundaries. The Greedy Dog, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and Pardoner’s Tale all provide direct insight as to why ambition is to be revered, harbored with caution. It is my opinion, that ambition is a positive trait that may result in the manifestation of any feasible goal with appropriate management, whether the deed be evil or righteous.

Mankind is no stranger to the themes of power and tyranny. The two terms go hand in hand - for the definition of tyranny is “the government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.” Tyranny is, by no means, meant to be a positive thing. Just going through history, one can find tyranny scattered all about. Take Adolf Hitler, for example, who corrupted his power in order to bring about the deaths of millions of innocent people.

This distinction between meaning and act not only applies to punishment, but to almost all moral concepts. For example, the act of harming a person whether it is for the purpose of self-preservation, or to exercise power over another, is still the same act. The difference lies in the will of the person who is performing or interpreting the act. The will to power, which Nietzsche identifies as an instinct for freedom, is the drive to avoid being dominated by another. Man is forced to subdue this instinct, as well as other instincts and drives in order to participate in modern society.

Those who comes out victorious are feared by the common man, smirking as people bow down to their every wish.Numerous world leaders take advantage of their power, considering themselves to be above the law; this belief leads to careless cruelty and evil pursuit.Similarly, in The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas communicates "I'm sure the seed I've sown hasn't fallen on the barren ground"(266). Dumas compares vengeance to growing a plant, a successful plot takes precision and patience.Vengeance is commonly an effect of having power because power blinds the soul of love and turns the mind to hate, causing desire of revenge to declare dominance.Power is a constant battle, filled with people out for blood so they can proclaim rule.Power forces one to see only negatives in life instead of focusing on the positive; power built on hate will end in a colossal wreck of ruin.Accordingly, power influences man thirst for blood, wanting to experience another man suffer to hold high accounts of oneself.The desire for dominance overthrows the chance of world peace ever becoming a reality. It's human nature to be eager of respect, yet power destroys oneself, one-day one holds the sword, the next nothing remains of one yet a colossal

Only by doing this can it be possible to enter the realm of the ubermenschen (overman) and realise one’s highest ideal. Taking control and holding responsibility over one’s own state on both a social and individual level is, in Nietzsche’s view, integral to the human condition.

Power causes evil in humans: “I believe the root of all evil is the abuse of power”

So overall the quote to me means that every man has the power and the strength in them to overcome the suffering that is necessary to become great, self-commanding men. However, Nietzsche also feels like mankind is doomed to fall into a type of slavery where they will never be able to truly free and self-commanding.

That all strive to self-overcome, and in turn, attain freedom, is a fact accepted by Nietzsche. What the thundering philosopher renounces is morality and its ill-mannered objective comprehension of the will to power. This he sees as the culprit who impedes on (modern) man 's ability to understand and attain said power. The perplexity of objectivity and will to freedom is inevitably space from which the concept of morality arises. Nietzsche provides a detailed account of two forms of morality, that of the master and the slave. The individuals who correlate to master morality are characterized as strong individuals with a set of self-manifested which they live in accordance with. The masters think themselves powerful beings and equate this power to the Good. These individuals value create and determine good is that which is noble, good, strong, and powerful. This is affirmed by power and in turn, affirms the beliefs. (Nietzsche 115). Once a definition is ascribed to the concept of Good, the Bad is defined. That which is labeled as the Bad is likened to the weak-will, confused, oppressed individual. These are the individuals who compose the mentally of the slave morality. In likeness to their counterpart, they also long for power but due to subtle suspicion of the masters, attain it differently. Deducing a new set of values of that which is the Good, and declaring it that which is good for the whole. This Good they identify as the practice of patience, humility, pity, and

It should be noted that Nietzsche did not directly address the issue of the limitations of power. Similarly, he did not give a direct estimate of power in terms of “good” or “bad”. He was more inclined to consider these phenomena from beyond good and evil. Nevertheless, the book implicitly contains answers to these questions, although their analysis will require some interpretation of the author’s ideas. One can argue that the way Nietzsche described the features of confrontation between the “master morality” and “slave morality” (153) is how he reflected on the general characteristics and the fate of the will to power.

We judge will to power based on all about overcoming. The best way to overcome will be the most efficient. The greatest amount of power for the least amount of expenditure is what makes something efficient or inefficient. The weighing of sources against others to benefit the most creates efficiency. This is called a healthy will to power. If the will to power to behave in some way that is inefficient, then we have a sick will to power. Nietzsche looks at healthy and sick will to power from the mind, the mind is a large factor in Nietzsche philosophy. To be the healthiest man one must respond to their healthy instincts and when one does not is when a sick will to power comes about. Healthy has a relationship with strong and sick has a relationship with weakness of the body. A Basic principle of healthy expresses itself in dominance. It is a more efficient way of expressing your desire of achieving that desire. When it becomes divergent, perverted, it becomes sick. An example of this is pedophilia. Nietzsche gives another example being, nobles and aristocrats. He classifies nobles as healthy and slaves as sick, places them in different classes. He believes that aristocracy are good and healthy because they had healthy instincts which allowed them to rule unlike

It is the fundamental struggle to reach more. He gives an example on how an animal instinctively attempts to reach the ideal state by releasing its power and achieving the maximum feeling of power. Unlike Schopenhauer, he states that the “will” is not survival but the urge or will to power. Furthermore, Nietzsche was disgusted by the current state of human kind and hoped for a transmuted and changed humanity. He views this mankind as a virus that is demolishing itself and therefore created the idea of “the overman” who is a hero, a superior, and a master of its surroundings and since this “overman” or “superman” is compliant to himself, we can understand that the will to power is the power to set one’s goals and values. The power then is not

Nietzsche notes that, “I saw their strongest instinct, the Will to Power, I saw them quivering with the fierce violence of this instinct.” .” According to

Friedrich Nietzsche`s hard life and philosophy led him to concluded that life itself is an irrational, and pointless existence. Nietzsche insisted that life is governed by the “Will to Power”, which he defined as a universal desire