"Rather than a flesh and blood sovereign, a king, perhaps in Nietzschean terms a master—rather than an embodied dems potis, the main “Axial acquisition” is super-sovereignty: a sort of master rule to which the flesh and blood master must subordinate his will."
This is merely a descriptor of reality. No human is omnipotent, and even monkey troops know that an alpha who excessively abuses his station and does nothing for the troop must, and deserves to, be overthrown. Call it noblesse oblige, if you want, but the idea that power comes with attendant responsibilities and can be delegitimized by failure to deliver on them is as old as social behavior. Bees will kill their own queen and raise up a new one if she fails to lay enough eggs.
The demands nature places on a group's survival supersede the will of any one man. If group relations become an active detriment to the primal imperative, it is better for a species to go solitary.
Very nice article. Subscribed!
Very cool, thank you.
"Rather than a flesh and blood sovereign, a king, perhaps in Nietzschean terms a master—rather than an embodied dems potis, the main “Axial acquisition” is super-sovereignty: a sort of master rule to which the flesh and blood master must subordinate his will."
This is merely a descriptor of reality. No human is omnipotent, and even monkey troops know that an alpha who excessively abuses his station and does nothing for the troop must, and deserves to, be overthrown. Call it noblesse oblige, if you want, but the idea that power comes with attendant responsibilities and can be delegitimized by failure to deliver on them is as old as social behavior. Bees will kill their own queen and raise up a new one if she fails to lay enough eggs.
The demands nature places on a group's survival supersede the will of any one man. If group relations become an active detriment to the primal imperative, it is better for a species to go solitary.