"Master and Slave Morality: Crowley's Nietzschean Influence"

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  • philosophy
  • morality
  • thelema
  • nietzsche categories:
  • Philosophical Analysis draft: false description: "Examining Aleister Crowley's appropriation of Nietzsche's master-slave morality dichotomy within Thelemic philosophy."

The Nietzschean Foundation

Aleister Crowley's conceptual framework of the 'Master' and 'Slave' directly derives from Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900 CE) philosophical works. Crowley held Nietzsche in such high regard that he canonized him as a saint in the Gnostic Catholic Church.

The Thelemic Dichotomy

In The Book of the Law, Crowley presents a fundamental social division:

"The Book announces a new dichotomy in human society; there is the master and there is the slave; the noble and the serf; the 'lone wolf' and the herd."
― Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears

Crowley elaborates in his footnote: - Master: Characterized by ability, adventure, and willingness to embrace responsibility - Slave: Motivated by "Safety first" as a primary principle

Nietzsche's Moral Typology

In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche identifies two coexisting moral frameworks:

  1. Master-Morality:
  2. Values: Power, nobility, independence
  3. Position: "Beyond good and evil"

  4. Perspective: Self-determined values

  5. Slave-Morality:

  6. Values: Sympathy, kindness, humility
  7. Classification: "Herd-morality"
  8. Dynamic: Seeks universal imposition of its values

Nietzsche viewed history as an ongoing tension between these moral systems, with the noble individual transcending herd mediocrity.

Philosophical Implications

  • Slave Morality's Essence: Utility as foundational principle

  • Example: John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism as academic codification

  • Cultural Conditioning:

    "Anyone that has never deeply questioned the values of their culture and society is by definition a 'slave' according to the Nietzsche/Crowley scheme."

References

  1. Nietzsche, F. (1973). Beyond Good and Evil.
  2. Archie, L. "Reading for philosophical inquiry".
    [Cited page: 62]