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Power

The axis: power as a technique of holding it and a psychology of submission —
against power by example, by non-action, and power over oneself alone.

The technique of power and its mechanics

  • Machiavelli (machiavelli) — power is taken and held with one's own arms, with fear without hatred, and with the skill of being both lion and fox. Grounding: svoyo-oruzhie-osnova-vlasti, vnushat-strakh-bez-nenavisti, byt-lvom-i-lisoy.
  • Le Bon (lebon) — power over the mass rests on prestige, which paralyzes criticism; the crowd thirsts for a leader and for servitude, not for freedom. Grounding: vlast-derzhitsya-prestizhem, tolpa-zhazhdet-vozhdya-i-rabstva, leaders-and-their-means.
  • Nietzsche (nietzsche) — the will to power is life itself; the question is not whether to rule but the rank of the one who rules: the pathos of distance. Grounding: volya-k-vlasti, pafos-distantsii, poryadok-ranga.

Power by example and non-action

  • Confucius (confucius) — govern by virtue and example, having first rectified yourself; the rectification of names instead of coercion. Grounding: zheng, de, zhengming, pravlenie.
  • Laozi (laozi) — the best ruler is one the people barely know exists: the more prohibitions and meddling, the poorer the people. Grounding: pravlenie, wuwei, shengren.

Power over oneself alone

  • Epictetus (epictetus) — only your judgment and will are in your power; power over men and outcomes belongs to another, and whoever desires it is a slave. Grounding: razlichay-podvlastnoe, dihotomiya-kontrolya, svoboda-cherez-otkaz-ot-vneshnego.
  • James Allen (james-allen) — calmness is power: self-mastery attracts more than force does. Grounding: spokojstvie-eta-vlast, serenity.
  • Adler (adler) — the striving for personal power is a compensation for the feeling of inferiority and a force hostile to social feeling: a diagnosis, not an ideal. Grounding: stremlenie-k-prevoskhodstvu, chuvstvo-nepolnotsennosti, chuvstvo-obshchnosti.

Axis of dispute: Machiavelli against Confucius and Laozi — fear and arms
against example and non-action; Epictetus against Machiavelli — power over
judgment against power over men; Adler against Nietzsche — the will to power
as neurosis against the will to power as life.