The Self as a Battlefield: Nietzsche and the Weakening of Modern Society
Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy remains profoundly unsettling today because it dismantles the illusions of a stable, pure, or inherently valuable self. He insists that the self is no fixed essence but a chaotic hierarchy of drives—a provisional alliance forged through conflict and domination. As he puts it, the "subject" is a fiction invented by the weak to impose unity on multiplicity. This directly assaults contemporary obsessions with identity as something sacred, authentic, and deserving of protection. In reality, what we call the "self" is a war zone: raw instincts, repressed impulses, cultural impositions, and power plays vying for control. Any claim to a coherent, victimized, or privileged identity is just one drive temporarily winning out—often the weakest one, masquerading as virtue. Morality as a Weapon of the Weak Nietzsche's dissection of morality is merciless: he doesn't care if it's "true," only what it achieves. Moral sy...