Nietzsche On The Genealogy Of Morality Analysis

Morality is a topic that will always contain a variety of viewpoints, conversations, and problems, but it is a subject that will never have a factual or concrete answer. Although it has history and many similar general understandings, morality is, simply put, an idea, to which people have different perceptions within their lives due to information gained from their experiences and the thoughts of others. Friedrich Nietzsche describes his view of the issue in On the Genealogy of Morals, creating a main talking point through detailing the difference between “master” morality and “slave” morality. He describes this separation by showing that originally, people of power dictated what was good and bad, as they valued qualities such as physical strength

A massively important aspect of Friedrich Nietzsche’s ideology about master and slave morality comes from the information frequently relayed about the history of morality, along with the ignorant perceptions of English philosophers. He mentions that these philosophers create their ideas from unhistorical standpoints, and “…it is certainly a shame that they lack the historical sense itself, that they themselves have been abandoned by all the beneficent spirits of history” (14). Nietzsche indicates that these theories about morality reference good and bad through the utility of different actions, but he claims that is on the opposite side of the spectrum when looking at it from a

A clear example that he provides within this disparity is “The master’s right of naming extends so far that it is permissible to look upon language itself as the expression of the power of the masters” (15). Although this is showing master morality within an activity, it also clearly demonstrates the separation in mindset. To claim that language is a form of expression within master morality shows that nobles think without restriction and without outside influence. Their natural lives create the standard and they live on their own terms. On the other side, slave morality entails being dissatisfied, as the people within it must be reactionary and live under the standard those above them. This naturally creates completely opposite mindsets. This plays heavily into morality and what is defined as good and bad, as people within master morality can dictate what they put in each category, while slaves have no choice but to maintain the reverse viewpoint. They cannot have the same mindset as masters, as they are too weak to think and live the same way, therefore they must default into vilifying the qualities that masters hold to justify the only set of values and thoughts they are able to hold onto. This separation in mindset is what spills over into and creates the rest of what makes the difference between master morality and slave morality for