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!
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.
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.