Ethics

Is it wrong to desire power?

Comments

Not necessarily, I suppose one might want it to do good things and so on. On the other hand, if the desire is for power just for the sake of being in control, or dominating others, then this would be problematic. Why would one want to do this, unless one had a suspect moral nature? We are familiar with people who enjoy directing others and controlling situations, but since the basis on which they act presumably is that they know better than others what ought to be done, and how and when it ought to be done, they place themselves in a position of implicit superiority and this is morally questionable. Even though we may need some people to take on these authority roles, they should always be aware of the damaging effects such roles can have on them as well as on others and seek to prevent the onset of moral corruption as a result.

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