Autoritarismo e sociabilidade do ressentimento: contribuições nietzschianas para um combate em andamento

Authoritarianism and sociability of resentment: nietzschean contributions to an ongoing struggle

Abstract

This article aims to provide elements, from Nietzsche’s philosophy, for the attempt to understand and combat authoritarianism. To do so, we start from the genealogical perspective opened by Nietzsche with the aim of providing a diagnostic look at the authoritarian behaviors that periodically reappear in contemporary societies, aiming to show the fundamental role that resentment plays in them. We intend to argue that the conditions for the periodic flourishing of authoritarianism are anchored in a form of resentful sociability, which characterizes the matrix of Western cultures, and the type of life that is expressed through it, which go back to the origins of social life organized by the State. The hypothesis is that the sociability of resentment produces not only a weakened society, but also, consequently, impotent individuals. These become incapable of dealing with the painful aspects of existence, and therefore become sufferers in search of numbness or salvation - even through violence - a tendency that forms the conditions conducive to the periodic (re)emergence of authoritarian tendencies and messianic figures.

Keywords: Authoritarianism; resentment; sociability; politcs; Nietzsche.