Last man standing

Greetings from windy Rutland! And many thanks to all of you who wished me luck with the move.
Matthew asks me a tricky question: would I be complimented to be called a Nietzschean last man?
In some senses, the description fits, and not just because I’ve spent more time at Homebase than I should.
I certainly share the last man’s eschewal of great wealth and power:

One no longer becomes poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wants to rule? Who still wants to obey? Both are too burdensome.

And the last man’s interest in “merely” little things, far from being contemptible as Nietzsche claimed, is actually wholly admirable.
So far, I’m proud to be a last man.
However, I fear the Nietzschean dichotomy between the last man and the “overman” misdescribes today’s world.
Nietzsche thought that last men were an undifferentiated mass - “Everyone wants the same; everyone is the same” - whilst the overman strove to be different.
But this is the exact opposite of what we see today. It’s the men who seek power and great wealth who are all the same - with their utilitarian morality and managerialist ideology - but it’s the men who retreat from worldly acclaim who are all different in their tastes, moralities and interests.
And this is where Nietzsche is a lousy sociologist. He thought the overman could both create his own morality and achieve worldly power. But perhaps the two are incompatible. It‘s the men who seek power who are, in fact, slaves to contemporary mediocre morality. It’s the people who have renounced power and ambition who are free to pursue other, higher, moral goals.

* The picture is of Egleton church, taken on my afternoon constitutional.

Comments

[kinglear]

I think you are right - it's only once you give up ambition that you are able to make properly dispassionate decisions and seek your own nirvana ( if that isn't mixing too many religions,metaphors etc)

[Glenn]

So - is it a shock moving out of London in terms of... all the shops shut at 5.30pm; you can't nip out to tesco metro for a bottle of pinot noir, but have to make do with the local shop's vin de table; can't find a dry cleaners anywhere; there's no incessant noise from traffic, people, etc... hehehe

On the upside - people smile, say hello, chat amiably, and generally seem happier.

When i moved to the shires I was struck by the time it took people to serve me in shops and cafes and the like. With a London head on I was impatient, but then I learned to relax. Its a good thing to not be in such a rush...

[dearieme]

Since virtually all British dry cleaners are crap, that's surely no loss?

[Paulie]

I see the sheep in the foreground. My worst suspicions about your motivation for moving... no. I should reserve judgement for the time being...

[Paulie]

I see the sheep in the foreground. My worst suspicions about your motivation for moving... no. I should reserve judgement for the time being...

[reason]

I looked Rutland in Wikipedia. Oh MY GOD! No wonder Eric Idle made fun of it. I'm a Jane Jacobs fan.

Ex Sydney, London, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt (and Aberdeen) resident.

[reason]

Oops...
And Melbourne!

[reason]

Hell Chris - I thought you were merely moving somewhere provincial, not becoming a hermit!

[David Davis]

You are most fortunate to have fetched up in Rutland - nice human place. I know it well, I lived in Bedfordshire for years, just down the A1 from you.

BUT....
People serving in shops in the country should learn to hurry up, serve, and get on with it.

If they had learned this lesson, oh...say before 1997, then the BrownBlair Beast might not have been able to destroy them, in the way he has, and has always intended to do, knowing they have never, do not and will never vote for him.

If they had been brisker people, they might have got together the wherewithal to assassinate the EU and London b******s who closed their post offices for them while they waited, and were just faster-thinking than they were.

There is a time to serve, and a time to chat. You all know each other anyway, so why chat at work, and needlessly annoy metrosexuals queueing behind you, who just want to pay and b****r off?

I speak as a Londoner ensconced in a middling but grand, faded and proud Lancashire town for the last seven years - believe me, I would not wish to be anywhere else than here!

I just want to pay and b****r off too! The Nazi traffic wardens are probably after me in the meantime anyway....

[David Davis]

Oh and I'm linking us to your kind blog. Hope that's all right with you...

Please link to ours if you feel like it:-

http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com

[Matthew Sinclair]

Chris,

Excellent response.

I think you've asked the right question - i.e. if you're the Last Man, what does the Overman look like?

I'm not sure that it would be a managerialist politician. I think that it refers to a different kind of power. I'll cogitate on all this a bit and then post on the subject later.

Rutland's a lovely place. My godfather lives up there. He says the thing is that it takes the locals a while to get used to you. How are you settling in?

Best,
Matt

[David Davis]

I caught my first trout in Rutland Water, too. In, er, about, 1977, I think...

[Adrian]

Perhaps a philosopher you might usefully consider is Epicurus. The estimable Sean Gabb has written a fine summary of his work lately. I can't alas give you a direct URL, but if you go to www.seangabb.co.uk, and search on Epicurus, you'll find it.

[Bob B]

Don't forget to visit Belvoir Castle, home of the (11th) Duke and Duchess of Rutland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvoir_Castle

Best wishes for your move and settling in.

[Lord Bonkers]

Welcome to Rutland!

It is a pleasing local custom that you should present your landlord with a gift soon after your arrival.

[Bob B]

As for all these downbeat comments about London and Londoners, try this recent BBC news clip about the Great Divide:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7368326.stm

Of course, native born Londoners are becoming an increasing rarity in London but some of us still feel nostalgic about doing the Lambeth Walk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCLKn6W1xk

[Ken Houghton]

COngratulations on finally being able to track down Drik, Barry, Stig, and Nasty. (Joining others in having expected that you meant the far exurbs, not The Untamed Wild.)

"It’s the people who have renounced power and ambition who are free to pursue other, higher, moral goals."

Of course, some of us are freer not of our own choosing. (Yourself excepted.) "If it's any consolation, though, the end result's the same."

[Some Overguy]

I think it's a misunderstanding on Nietsche's philosophy. The Ubermensch (say it in German, it's way cooler) is not socially powerful, see Zarathoustra, but he's an aristocrat in the sense that he has something more than other people.

What Nietsche says is that as long as you fix your own morality then what you're looking for IS power. Not socially visible power, but true power.

[Paul Priest]

weird you mention the 'last man standing'...
and you live just a stone's throw away ?
hmmm....