Once again on the "free minds", or How is a sovereign individual possible?

Abstract

The article suggests an interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy centred on his notion of a sovereign individual, or “free mind”. The question is how is it possible to speak of sovereignty after Nietzsche himself effectuated the destruction of the subject and argued that nothing individual can be accessible to consciousness. The interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy as a homily or an appeal, on the one hand, and the thesis of its inconsistency, on the other, – both seem equally futile. And if there is a contradiction here, it is not accidental, it points the possibility of a more profound understanding of sovereignty than a mere independence from social norms. In view of the subtle and invisible struggle of cravings and affects, in view of the struggling discrepant wills, sovereignty should be won time and again; it should be won, however, not by resisting to outward force, but by indefatigable self-surmounting, by surmounting one's own deepest desires, those which Nietzsche calls “desires of one's own heart”. It was these that philosophers have hitherto taken for proofs. Therefore, Nietzsche's appeal for spiritual liberation is, above all, addressed to philosophers: they should learn to keep a tight rein on their 'pros' and 'cons', they should learn to realize the intellectual damage that any 'convictions' are fraught with, they should surmount any “desirability” and learn to see it as unjust. Yet, this is not to be taken as an imperative, since the criterion of 'desirability' is deeply individual and extremely paradoxical. By introducing it Nietzsche shows what in his view still deserves to be called sovereignty and individuality. A strong mistrust towards one's own self is the vector indicating the direction of spiritual activity which alone, according to Nietzsche, is worthy of being called philosophy.