The Forbidden Ethics
The Will of Sacrifice
The will is the thing itself, the inner content, the essence of the world, a blind and incessant impulse. ~Arthur Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer saw something more horrible than any philosopher had ever witnessed. He saw the reality for what it was: “The will is raging, blind, naked, suffocating, it is destined to destroy the very individuals it wishes to exist.” His philosophy can be summed up in the following words: Will Strife Misery. The tragedy of life arises from the nature of the will; as each individual living striving to continue to exist, the world becomes a vast field of incalculable fights and struggles. This cruel, rapacious and ruthless conflict invariably generates much misery. All happiness and gratification, the mere abolition of a desire and extinction of a pain, expires as soon as our appetite has been satisfied. Suffering always endures: “life is an expiation for the crime of being born.” For Schopenhauer, life is a curse, and the only hope of liberation is death.
Charles Darwin established an atrociously competitive and pessimistic world where living creatures struggle with others for their own preservation. Animals are preyed on by other animals, and people are preyed on by other people: “Man is a wolf to his fellow men” (homo homini lupus est). However, how to explain a mother's tender care for her cubs, coming to defend them at the cost of her own life? How to explain the “altruistic” behavior of animals, of sacrificing their lives to preserve the herd? How can you explain the heroic sacrifice so many people have made for their family, people, and nation?
Blood is the answer. Genetically related individuals sense the union in their blood, and by this virtue, they can overcome their individual interest towards preserving their kin. In certain circumstances, they even sacrifice themselves. In the same way, the weakest and sickest are often sacrificed. In nature, it is observed that mothers tend to abandon or eat the weakest and most deformed member of their offspring. Although at first glance it would seem like a cold and cruel behavior; it has the same purpose as self-sacrifice, to ensure that the best specimen grows up to inherit the best genes for survival.
Friedrich Nietzsche saw in the instincts of living beings a force that went beyond the mere impulse to survive and reproduce, as established by Darwinism. The Will is proactive, not reactive; organisms not only adapt to their environment but seek to dominate it and empower their species. He rejects Schopenhauer's nihilistic pessimism; it is desire (conatus) that gives meaning to existence. Every individual has a natural right to exist, and a natural right to grow in strength and power. In other words, if you cannot turn the Will against itself, as Schopenhauer suggested, you better embrace it (amor fati). To Live is to Struggle. The Will becomes a necessary and positive characteristic since it is the inner force that can transform human beings, allowing them to no longer be reactive to circumstances but proactive, capable of controlling their own destiny: the Will to Power.