Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 12:09:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: callihan-AT-callihan.seanet.com (Steven E. Callihan)
Subject: Re: be civil!


M.E. (name?) wrote:

>	I would like to know who are Victors were, or are? If we could be reminded by
>the history of this weekend, "we" were the victors, and within the
>individualistic concept of the time our laws were written to protect the
>victory of the individual against the state.

As long as all power is in a single hand or set of hands, there is no need
for law, other than as a set of customs practiced among equals. In Athens,
the constitution formulated by Solon (one of the rulers) was at least partly
coerced by the fact that power had migrated to parties (the merchants,
manufacturers, the oarsmen of the Athenian galleys, the members of the
Hoplite infantry, etc.) that were not being represented by the state of the
day (the aristocratic commonwealth). The alternatives, in other words, were
constitutional law or revolution.

I'm not sure that Nietzsche is at all a traditional libertarian or liberal
("victory of the individual against the state"). I can't help but feel he
would be hostile to either variant (right-wing or left-wing) of
"individualism." Certainly, he is hostile to the modern bureaucratic state,
but largely because it enshrines individualistic values (the atomization of
identity). I'm not sure it follows, however, that he is hostile to every
possible state.

One perspective here is one that sees Nietzsche as asserting the superiority
of culture over politics. If, however, we see the state as the product of
culture, rather than culture as the product of the state...

Steve
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=A6 Steven E. Callihan            =A6 "It is the stillest words that bring  =A6
=A6                               =A6 on the storm. Thoughts that come on   =A6
=A6                               =A6 doves' feet guide the world."         =A6
=A6 URL: http://www.callihan.com/ =A6 -F. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra,=A6
=A6 E-Mail: callihan-AT-callihan.com =A6 II, "The Stillest Hour"               =A6
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