These thinkers combine Nietzsche's critique of egalitarianism with reactionary politics.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) – Prophet of Aristocratic Values
Essential Works:
- Beyond Good and Evil – Critique of slave morality
- On the Genealogy of Morals – History of resentment and guilt
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Overman and eternal return
- The Will to Power (notes) – Raw thoughts on power, hierarchy, nobility
Key Ideas:
- Master vs. slave morality – Noble affirmation vs. resentful negation
- Herd mentality – Democracy and Christianity as slave revolts
- Overman – The self-overcoming individual who creates values
- Aristocratic radicalism – A new nobility based on strength, creativity, and will
Nietzsche is the philosophical foundation for any anti-egalitarian, aristocratic worldview. Every reactionary thinker after him grapples with his ideas.
Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)
Essential Works:
- The Decline of the West – Civilizations as organisms with life cycles
- Man and Technics – Technology and the fate of Western man
- Prussianism and Socialism – Authoritarian order vs. liberal chaos
Key Ideas:
- Civilizational cycles – Spring (myth), Summer (culture), Autumn (civilization), Winter (decline)
- Caesarism – The return of strongman rule in late civilization
- Faustian soul of the West – Infinite striving, technological conquest, restless energy
- Decline as inevitable – The West is in Winter; accept it and live heroically anyway