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Nietzsche's The Genealogy Of Moral

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Introduction: In Nietzsche book the genealogy of morals, the bad conscience is the main theme throughout essay two, the origins of the bad conscience remain in dispute. There is still confusion around where the bad conscience originates for man. This paper will attempt to argue a particular understanding of Nietzsche’s presentation of the origins of the bad conscience. This will be done using three main arguments from the genealogy of morals as evidence for the validity of this origin of the bad conscience. This paper will argue that the bad conscience originates when the man enters into a peaceful society. This is because once the man enters into a peaceful society he enters into a debtor versus creditor contract that results in the man having …show more content…

The society provides man with peace, safety, and security, in return man is asked to behave in a certain way; respectfully and non violently. This is the origin of man’s bad conscience; which begins in the form of his guilt towards the peaceful society, this is because he can never behave well enough in society to repay it for its service and relief himself of the debt. This is for two reasons firstly because no one can behave well all the time; there will always be some situation where the man could have behaved better in society. Secondly because even if he did behave well all of the time man would still not be able to relieve the debt he has to society. This is guilt, the bad conscience will forever follow him around because it originated the moment he entered into society and was the first of its …show more content…

This is because man will have guilt if he acts on his wild instincts, for wronging his creditor; the peaceful society. By acting on his instincts he will behave in a way, which is not permitted by the creditor, despite receiving the benefits of living in that peaceful society leaving him even more indebted. If the man decides to respect the creditor and does not act out his instincts and he turns them onto himself, he will feel guilt for himself because he cannot relieve himself of the violent instincts that are torturing him. Once the man has entered into society, entered into the creditor and debtor contract and internalized his wild instincts, he begins to hate himself and this is the full-blown bad conscience. This happens because he feels guilt towards himself and the creditor by internalizing or acting on his instincts, knowing that regardless of which he chooses he can’t be right and will feel guilty Man feels trapped within in himself like his bad conscience is a prison that he can’t escape. This mixed with all his violent internalized instincts and the creditor and debtor relationship, which does not allow him to express those instincts. He begins to direct his violent instincts and thoughts towards himself, his position, and his inability to overcome his guilty – guilty dichotomy. As Nietzsche

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