Nietzsche's On The Genealogy Of Morality

Friedrich Nietzsche lived from 1844-1900, in a small town near Leipzig in Prussia. Raised by his father who was a German minister, Nietzsche had a fairly religious upbringing. Despite the fact that his father was a minister, Nietzsche started to question his faith at a very young age before ultimately rejecting it all together by college. Nietzsche attended college where he got a degree in philology, (the study of words and their origins). Nietzsche was considered a German philosopher, social critic, as well as often criticizing religion. In his book, “On the Genealogy of Morality” Nietzsche argues against religion on where our morality comes from. He argues that morality came from something he labels “Master Morality” and “Slave Morality”.

Some of the “problems” that he sees with philosophers as well as societal problems. “Lack of self- knowledge” is the first problem that Nietzsche discusses. Philosophers of his time Nietzsche argues do not spend enough time or anytime at all examining what is happening inwardly and what is happening at the present. They do not pay attention to current feelings or emotions. Nietzsche claims that they are too distracted by what happen in the past, or something far away, anything but the present. He sees many faults in this, often criticizing their works.

“The origin of our moral prejudices” is a statement first brought to light in Nietzsche book “All-Too-Human” a book he published 10 years prior to publishing “On the Genealogy of Morality”. He hoped that the time between the books would help people adjust to his ideas and the subject that he was suggesting in his current

Somehow there is metaphysical powers or power pulling all the strings behind the world. Nietzsche started to question religion at the young age of 13, later to completely reject it altogether. The common belief at that time was that god was the origin of our morality; god determined what was good and what was bad or evil. Nietzsche rejected this idea of our morality. With this in mind, Nietzsche questions whether the common belief that god is the origin of morality has helped or hindered our development as a society. In questioning morality Nietzsche suggests that if he did believe in god then god would be evil for creating evil.

Some would argue that Nietzsche quest for the origin of morality was not to find out where it really came from but to better understand it and whether we can trust our “ideas” of morality. If one blindly follows something that they do not understand how can one tell how much value it has or whether we can trust if it is good or bad. “Good man” is better than an “evil man” is a common idea that people have generally accepted. Nietzsche suggest that what we perceive as good might not be good at all, and what we perceive as evil might not be and could actually be better for