Nobility: table of contents
Collecting the posts in my “nobility arc” on the wise and just use of power
Nobility is the aspiration to manifest glory for the benefit of others.
Nobility is using whatever abilities we have in service of others.
Nobility is seeking to fulfill our in-born human potential, and to develop all our in-born human qualities.
This page is an index to my writing on nobility.
The longest, most substantial posts so far are “Ofermōd,” “You should be a God-Emperor,” and “Software engineers are eating the world.”
You can take these, or any of the posts, by themselves. However, if you have time for it, they may all reveal deeper meanings if you read the sequence in order.
More posts about nobility are upcoming!
Nobility
This was my first, most concise discussion, from 2010. It’s a good starting point!
Nobility and virtue are distinct sorts of goodness
Nobility is the wise and just use of power. Nobility is not moral virtue. They are not in conflict; they may correlate, but they don't always coincide.
Social, cultural, and political troubles come from subordinating nobility to virtue.
The Court of Values and the Bureau of Boringness:
Like “Nobility and virtue are distinct,” this is about how confusing the goodness of communal virtue with the goodness of noble government has led to political dysfunction. I wrote this one back in 2016, shortly before the American Presidential election. At the time, I thought it was mostly a light-hearted satire, but in retrospect it was prophesy, and possibly even a serious proposal for structural reform.
Priests and Kings
The common civilizational pattern of a separate priesthood and aristocracy casts light on current political dysfunction.
To keep priests in check: prefer nobility to churlishness
The opposite of virtue is vice, not nobility. Pop Nietzscheanism often errs by mistaking this, but draws on accurate insights as well. Vice signaling may be misplaced heroism.
You should be a God-Emperor
Vajrayana resolves confusions about Nietzsche’s master vs. slave morality distinction. Those rest on wrong metaphysical assumptions at the root of Western thought. Dropping these unthought axioms reveals glorious possibilities they have obscured.
Vajra pride and the diversity of natural nobility
You do not have to be perfect to be noble ࿇ How to know decisively that your heart is noble, regardless
Ofermōd
Building a bridge across postmodern nihilism to nobility:
This is about the American ruling class. Or, more precisely, about its absence.
It is about the meaning of nobility, how we lost it, and how we can rebuild it.
It is about politics: who rules and how. It is a kind of politics you may be unfamiliar with...
Seeing like a Good King
Vision for nobility in an age of chaotic decline and unexpected possibilities.
A Good King uses power wisely, creatively, and justly.
I recommend we all aspire to being Good Kings.
Software engineers are eating the world
Software engineers have gained enormous power outside our own discipline—probably so more than any other class. We are now exceptionally well-placed to take up the responsibility of nobility.
David Chapman on Rethinking Nobility
A podcast episode in the Jim Rutt Show, discussing “Ofermōd,” “Software engineers are eating the world,” and “You should be a God-Emperor.” Jim is a skilled interviewer, and this was a lot of fun! There’s a transcript if you’d rather read than listen.