The human psyche, an incredibly complicated part of us, which science still has yet to explain. We only have some insight to what our conscious and unconscious minds hold for us, though theses insights are merely theories. Friedrich Nietzsche; a German philosopher, composer, poet, philologist and cultural critic, came up with an idea called the will to power. Nietzsche argues that we, as humans, exercise power over others either to benefit them or to do harm. In addition, he also contrasts between “master morality” and “slave morality”, which by creating values, imposing them on people, and judging the world based on these values, is a noteworthy way to express the will of power.
The ability to believe in God is dependent upon the availability of concrete evidence in our physical world and whether or not this evidence justifies a plausible God. There is also the ability to believe in a God but not actually have trust that this God is a just God so rejectance is in order. To Ivan, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, there was evidence that there exists a God. He just did not believe that God was just so he did not accept him as his God stating, “It’s not that I don’t accept God, Alyosha; I’m just, with the utmost respect, handing Him back my ticket” (308); due to the fact that there is unjust in the world to those who have not sinned in the eyes of God. Then along came Friedrich Nietzsche to express his views of morality in his writing Genealogy of Morals, presenting two ways of moraly behaving;
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.
No serious thinker has done more harm to the Jewish people than Friedrich Nietzsche. Following his death, Nietzsche’s writings served as an inspiration and philosophical justification for Adolf Hitler and Nazism. Quite paradoxically, Nietzsche was far from being an anti-Semite; in fact, he Nietzsche was considered to be one of the more pro-Jewish writers of his era. While in the second and third essay of On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche’s position against anti-Semitism seems to be clear, comments within the first essay can easily be misconstrued as anti-Semitic. In light of all he writes in his On the Genealogy of Morals, the Nazis were wrong to regard him as one of their
Nietzsche [(1887) 2007] believed that there were two classes, the master race and the slave race. The master class clearly thinks that they have more power than the civilians, in this case the Israeli soldiers think that they have higher authority over the civilians. Power is not based on war; power should be based on building people up not tearing them down. What the soldiers did by murdering civilians in cold blood was not an act of power, but rather an act of resentment towards innocent people. As Nietzsche [(1887) 2007] said “True, in most cases they give themselves names which simply show superiority of power…
While many philosophers take up the mantle of the persecuted everyman, Frederich Nietzsche in The Genealogy of Morals pledges his allegiance to the enlightened elite. If the world were at Nietzsche’s discretion, tyranny and the accompanying oppression would run rampant. The basis of humankind, he argues, lies in power and who wields it. In the pre-Christian tradition, the power rested with the ideal of the Greek hero: the overtly masculine, strong, physical and honorific man. The only way to exercise power was to wrest it from the hands of those who already have it and keep it out of the hands of those who want to take it from you.
Ethics and morality for most of us come from God, when we think of God we associate all of that which is good with him and dispose of anything bad, thus god is morality. The irrational thing about this is that, going by that logic we should all have the same view and opinion on ethics and morality since in all of our religions god is good, however this is not the case. Radical organizations such as ISIS use god as a means of justifying the pain they inflict on others, they have opposing views regarding morality and ethics, and even though god is good their moral values conflict our own, Nietzsche suggests we have killed god. If god were dead, then morality is also dead, we have created our own versions of morality to comfort ourselves, our
1) Explain the origin of guilt or bad conscience as understood by Nietzsche in Essay 2 of "On The Genealogy of Morality." In Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, On the Genealogy of Morality, he brings up the concept of guilt or bad conscience. He starts out talking about how we should remember things needed to survive and repress everything else and that being forgetful is an active thing people should be doing. This is because humans become sick with guilt when they cannot forget things.
Nietzsche brings us to an incredible journey discussing distinction between the notion of “good” and “bad” while referring to what he calls master/slave morality. Though, his meaning of good and bad is not necessarily ours, because he is really talking about on the one hand nobility,the higher power mind and the common on the other hand. The idea of master nobility highlights the hierarchy in people and the noble think of themselves highly compared to the common person. On the contrary, slave morality is the opposite of noble morality, where there is rejection of hierarchy and morality is viewed as being equally applied to all regardless of class. People who are weak in will exhibit herd/ slave mentality that rejects life–affirming behaviors while denying basic instincts (Nietzsche 114).
In the realm of philosophy, there is a hermeneutical technique of analysis known as genealogy where a individual questions the emergence of social and philosophical beliefs by trying to account for the totality or scope of discourse. This is unlike Kantian views of critical theory and their accompanying analysis, these being views focusing on logical inconsistencies and consistencies. Genealogy views through a historical lens and essentially problematizes all opinions that stand as an issue to one thing as well as to the development of society. The technique of genealogy often times attempts to go beyond the discourse that is in question for they hold infinite possibilities. Since there is a genealogy of morals, this implies there is a past president that has been developed over time.
Through his On the Genealogy of Morality, Friedrich Nietzsche evaluates power relationships. He unravels the relationship of master/slave, creditor/debtor, and artist/philosopher to address the ranging aspects of power that have mounted on society. Intellectuals and higher authorities easily lord over their subordinates which emphasize a major power dynamic in society that philosophers like Karl Marx would argue need to be overthrown. Marx argues class structures should be eliminated as a bourgeois society should turn into a communist society. Therefore, power gaps would no longer exist.
Furthermore, the detrimental side of morality has placed itself within us in the means of understanding ourselves, making it difficult to picture our lives functioning in a way other than how it is right now. Thus, it is argued that we face a problematic restoration project that must be deconstructed, studied, and reconstructed in a healthier form. The development of this is seen in the work On the Genealogy of Morality which includes the First Treatise striking on the conception of what morality is as a historical innovation, the Second Treatise touches on guilt and bad conscience which pertains to the danger moralized guilt poses on psychological health; the Third Treatise explores idealization of asceticism as means of intensifying self-punishment. It is emphasized how purified guilt is naturally conscripted
Thesis Statement: Origin of Morality Outline A.Universal Ethics 1.Karl Barth, The Command of God 2.Thomas Aquinas, The Natural Law 3.Thomas Hobbes, Natural Law and Natural Right 4.Immanuel Kant, The Categorical Imperative B.Morality and Practical Reason 1.Practical Reason a.Practical Reason and Practical Reasons C.Evolution of Morality 1.What makes Moral Creatures Moral 2.Explaining the Nature of Moral Judgments F. Answering Questions 1. What is the origin of Morality: Religion or Philosophy? 2. What does religion say about morality?
A moral life is a life that most people aim for when growing and learning. This morality is obtained through motivation that can be achieved in different ways. Depending on what philosopher or individual is sharing their ideas, the motivation will differ. Throughout this paper there will be a few examples of philosopher’s ideas of moral motivation. The story of Socrates’s multitudinous beast will be told and how this can affect someone’s moral motivation.
From this perspective, all activity in the world is determined by the drives for power, growth, and domination, “life simply is will to power.” [8] Human activity and valuing are products of the competition among the drives of life, such that the will-to-power is the causal lens through which Nietzsche views life. This interpretation that Nietzsche imposes on the becoming of the world serves multiple purposes for his project. Through the lens of the will-to-power, Nietzsche explains the origin of anti-natural morality, diagnoses its psychologically damaging effects, and exposes its self-contradictory nature. Along with this, the will-to-power reinforces Nietzsche’s fatalist interpretation of the self, helping to alleviate the sickening effects of guilt and bad conscience.
