Nietzsche's Essay 'The Genealogy Of Morals'

In the assertion, The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche lays down the foundation of the origins and meanings of different moral concepts, respectively from a genealogical perspective. Specifically, in his second essay, Nietzsche traces the origins of the terms guilt and punishment, and further illustrates that neither concept has a moral purpose, except for the significance to which human-beings have given the two. The concept of guilt was first recognized similarly to the German term, ‘debt’; referring to an individual who is in debt is to be one of guilt. According to Nietzsche, all men are privileged with the ability to create and retain promises, with the thought, that men must enter into a world of promises to which they must be able to retain and carry-out.

In following, the creditor is seen to be ‘superior’ over the debtor, while vice versa, the debtor is seen to be inferior to the creditor; as a debt is now to be owed. To secure repayment, the creditor may follow with a form of punishment, such as retrieving valuable possessions or inflicting harm as method of causing one to feel guilt, while also gaining personal satisfaction. Although however, as Nietzsche tells that even though punishment was often viewed as cruel, it was also cheerful in the sense that no hard feelings were followed after the debt had been paid. Nietzsche argues that the thought of guilt arose as a tool for members of the lower class to feel better about their social distinction, by making those whom were considered of higher class, to feel guilty for obtaining properties of wealth, privilege, and