Are aristocracies actually Nietzschean in character, or was Nietzsche just a passionate snob?
The privileges of nobility are not in their origin concessions or favours; on the contrary, they are conquests. And their maintenance supposes, in principle, that the privileged individual is capable of reconquering them, at any moment, if it were necessary, and anyone were to dispute them.… It is annoying to see the degeneration suffered in ordinary speech by a word so inspiring as "nobility." For, by coming to mean for many people hereditary "noble blood," it is changed into something similar to common rights, into a static, passive quality which is received and transmitted like something inert. But the strict sense, the etymon of the word nobility is essentially dynamic. Noble means the "well known," that is, known by everyone, famous, he who has made himself known by excelling the anonymous mass.… "Nobility" does not appear as a formal expression until the Roman Empire, and then precisely in opposition to the hereditary nobles, then in decadence.
Nietzsche was a passionate snob who saw some worthwhile things in aristocracy but by no means thinks aristocrats are overmen or even "advocates" aristocracy. You might be confused by what he means by "noble."
>>8103485
>actually Nietzschean in character
I'm unironically going to ask: what do you mean by this? What are you referring to - the concept of ubermensch, of necessary culture, religion, etc.?
>>8103502
If I had to simplify it down to the bone, then someone Nietzschean is characterised by prideful striving. They're not necessarily in a hurry, but they are going somewhere.
Actual poshos seem pretty listless. But then again, that's taking aristocrat very literally.
>>8103485
The capitalist class in a truly free market.
>>8103551
But stock ownership means that wealth becomes unconnected to personal control of a business. The capitalists just seem to be moving in the direction of people who live off rents.
>>8103544
If I recall, Nietzsche doesn't characterize aristocracy as being a class filled with those who are either ubermensch, or strive toward a development of a life closer to that of an ubermensch. In fact, unless my memory is false, doesn't he disregard those who inherit aristocratic positions as being falsely enlightened in Thus Spoke Zarathustra?
Pure Nietzscheism is unconcerned with the form of governemnt, only with great men doing great things.
Neitsche's Geneology of Morals is merely a history, not a manifesto.
Remember to take into consideration when reading neitsche that man is a tribal animal driven by evolutionary motivations. Heroism and individualism always come second to passing on your genes. Saving a relative or killing an enemy is worth dying for if it meand your kin will be able to procreate as a result and pass on your genes. Thus altruism trumps individualism in the human psyche if there is a net genetic benefit to sacrificing yourself for race/tribe.
