`"Why am I here?" One answer could be: to be able or have the capacity to do something or act in a particular way, in my way actually. Sounds legitimate: the wish to be yourself.
But for some people this means, that they experience that they have a mission and they extend their answer with the wish to have the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.
In other words, such people want to have power. That is a serious matter because the saying is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, according to John Adams (1735 - 1826), the second president of the US.
The existence of power is a fact and that some people see it as a mission in their life to have and sometimes even cling to power, is a fact too.
However, in order to function well, hierarchical power relations are inevitable in larger societies. For centuries, philosophers and political thinkers have pondered the question
of how power can be controlled as effectively as possible so that maximum freedom can be guaranteed.
Controlling power thus became a pursuit of the right distribution of it, so that abuse of power was prevented and a balance of power could be achieved. It occupies people's minds to this day.
To begin in China, for Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC), a hierarchically layered society with power differences was self-evident and necessary. A society without hierarchy would degenerate into chaos.
According to Confucius, there is always a superior and an inferior, and the notion of power inequality is therefore the organizing principle of a world in which everyone knows their place and exercises loyalty.
This ordering reflects the mutual responsibilities, such as between parent and child, prince and subject, older and younger brother, husband and wife.
Confucius, did believe that power should always be exercised responsibly, taking into account the five Confucian virtues: humanity, justice, decency, wisdom and integrity.
Only then can someone become a high-ranking person, a "junzi", who knows how to handle power correctly. Becoming a "junzi" is still the Confucian form of meaning par excellence.
An old point of view of what power should mean. It is amazing. this insight. Compare this to how power is used in current times.
Thank you for your attention again...
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
28 - Why Am I Here 6 Sept 2024 / 1139
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