Essay
The Limits of the Golden Rule in the Face of Power Dynamics
Morals and Their Grounding in Power
We are simultaneously actors and audience members in the stream of Being’s flux. We have no choice in one or the other, and therefore, we reside in the strangest of theatres.
The stage upon which we perform is a vast and complex network of relationships with objects and people, each connection a delicate thread in the grand — yet decadent — essence of nature and humanity.
Nevertheless, for all its ubiquity, power remains enigmatic.
Power defies easy definition or understanding; this is especially so under the blinding light of its conceptual stigmatization relative to ordinary moral sensibilities.
Power is a blessing, curse, friend, and foe, the ultimate force of all creation and destruction.
Power is not a moral ought but a necessary principle whose compensatory action can elevate the human spirit to its highest heights or plunge it into the darkest depths of despair.
To unconditionally condemn or praise power is to be cast asunder by power.
Moral oughts themselves have and are determined by power. The qualitative character of each culture across historic periods is…
