In his second essay in the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche discusses the creditor/debtor relationship, the resulting bad conscience and most importantly the sovereign individual, “liberated again from morality of custom, autonomous and supra moral” (Nietzsche 59). In fact, Nietzsche further emphasizes that a sovereign person has a “power over oneself and over fate” (Nietzsche 60). I find Nietzsche’s description of this superhuman, sovereign state of mind both interesting and perplexing. I believe that such a state of mind is not only unattainable, but also problematic so long as such an individual continues to thrive in a morally-bound society. In order to reach that level of autonomy, an individual must be able to understand all the possibilities
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If this employee is a sovereign individual, they would be able to deliver on this promise regardless of the circumstances. This would indicate not only a strong ability to supress any personal temptations to procrastinate or spend time with family and friends instead of working but also to overcome any random forces of nature that may inhibit their progress, such as a sudden death in the family, a delay by another team member in completing their portion, a snow day, or a household emergency such as a flooding basement that may require their immediate attention. Therefore, delivering on every promise, many of which rely on external and random components out of the sovereign individual’s control would undoubtedly result in failure, at least initially and perhaps …show more content…
Is free-will the ability to act freely on the basis of one’s own whims and fancies? How then can Nietzsche describe a sovereign individual as a person “with the actual right to make promises, this master of a free will” (Nietzsche 59), if their free-will is limited by the selective number of feasible promises they choose to make? Or is free-will simply the careful manipulation of the self to make only those commitments that are easy to fulfill so as to create an illusion of being able to do as you please, when in actuality you’re doing so only by eliminating that which you cannot? Unlike Nietzsche, I believe that a truly sovereign individual is one that is free from the cycle of guilt and has attained freedom not because they can deliver every promise, but because failure to do so on their part or on the part of others does not invoke any remorse or
If this employee is a sovereign individual, they would be able to deliver on this promise regardless of the circumstances. This would indicate not only a strong ability to supress any personal temptations to procrastinate or spend time with family and friends instead of working but also to overcome any random forces of nature that may inhibit their progress, such as a sudden death in the family, a delay by another team member in completing their portion, a snow day, or a household emergency such as a flooding basement that may require their immediate attention. Therefore, delivering on every promise, many of which rely on external and random components out of the sovereign individual’s control would undoubtedly result in failure, at least initially and perhaps …show more content…
Is free-will the ability to act freely on the basis of one’s own whims and fancies? How then can Nietzsche describe a sovereign individual as a person “with the actual right to make promises, this master of a free will” (Nietzsche 59), if their free-will is limited by the selective number of feasible promises they choose to make? Or is free-will simply the careful manipulation of the self to make only those commitments that are easy to fulfill so as to create an illusion of being able to do as you please, when in actuality you’re doing so only by eliminating that which you cannot? Unlike Nietzsche, I believe that a truly sovereign individual is one that is free from the cycle of guilt and has attained freedom not because they can deliver every promise, but because failure to do so on their part or on the part of others does not invoke any remorse or