The Rational Will to Power
Posted by rbroberg 7 years, 11 months ago to Philosophy
Rand seemed to think Nietzsche had a good thing going with "achievement, ambition". On the other side, did Nietzsche's philosophical structure give license to the National Socialists to commit atrocities unperturbed? Not at all. Nietzsche was expropriated, in the same manner as so much wealth.
The article's section on Kraft versus Macht is critical. Rand's philosophy solved this incomplete duality and gave precedence to Macht in defining her ethics as rational self interest. Self interest: Kraft. Rational: Macht. She was able to define Macht as a necessary pre-condition for Kraft. Kraft without Macht is brute force. Macht without Kraft is total introspection, an impossibility. Thus Nietzsche understood self-interest was a legitimate goal, but was not able to connect it to rationality because of the Cartesian duality issue i.e. consciousness perceives reality, consciousness does not create reality. Rand was able to see Nietzsche through the lens of Aristotle, which enabled her to put existence preceding consciousness. Existence preceding consciousness means Kraft must abide in reality, which places it within the realm of reason (since there can be no connection to reality without reason).
The article's section on Kraft versus Macht is critical. Rand's philosophy solved this incomplete duality and gave precedence to Macht in defining her ethics as rational self interest. Self interest: Kraft. Rational: Macht. She was able to define Macht as a necessary pre-condition for Kraft. Kraft without Macht is brute force. Macht without Kraft is total introspection, an impossibility. Thus Nietzsche understood self-interest was a legitimate goal, but was not able to connect it to rationality because of the Cartesian duality issue i.e. consciousness perceives reality, consciousness does not create reality. Rand was able to see Nietzsche through the lens of Aristotle, which enabled her to put existence preceding consciousness. Existence preceding consciousness means Kraft must abide in reality, which places it within the realm of reason (since there can be no connection to reality without reason).
SOURCE URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_to_power
So, too, with Nietzsche. He embraced Dionysus and called Socrates a life-killer. Of course, if the dichotomy is not to be resolved (or denied), then we would endorse the Socratic inquiry and distance the Dionysian lust. See Rand's essay "Apollo and Dionysus."