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[The following is summary and not translation. Please check my interpretation against the original text reproduced below.]
The Morals of Amoebae and Freighters
Friedrich Nietzsche
La Volonté de puissance
II
Livre III:
Le nihilisme vaincu par lui-même
3. L'innocence du Devenir
(The Innocence of Becoming)
471
When the amoeba reproduces, it replicates its nucleus and splits its body. [Image 1]
It gives from its own body to another new life. This would seem to be a model of altruism. But really, from the biological perspective, the amoeba was really just doing itself a favor by getting rid of useless internal materials, like how a ship discharges its ballast. [4]
![[4]](http://images.publicradio.org/content/2008/07/12/20080712_ballastdiagram_33.jpg){kind=link}
![[5]](http://earthsys.ag.ohio-state.edu/decision/ballast/deballast3.jpg){kind=link}
For this reason, biologists scoff at the idea of "altruism."
From the Bianquis translation:
Les biologistes se moquent de ce prétendu « altruisme » : la reproduction chez l’amibe apparaît comme le rejet d’un ballast inutile, un pur avantage. Expulsion des matières inutilisables.
P.-A. 1887 (XVI, § 653)
Nietzsche, Friedrich. La Volonté de puissance, II. Transl. G. Bianquis. Paris: Gallimard, 1938.
Images obtained gratefully from the following sources:
Opening Image, [3]
[1]
[2]
[4]
[5]
[7]
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