Nietzsches Genealogy of Morality - Essay Example

NameTutorCourseDateNietzsche’s Genealogy of MoralityFriedrich Nietzsche is one of the highly influential thinkers of the past century especially in the field of understanding morality. In the book ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’, he writes about work and ethics, questioning and offering critiques on the value of our moral judgments based on genealogical methods where he examines the origins as well as meanings of the different moral concepts. Nietzsche finds out that modern judgment concerning men and things are smeared with an over-moralistic language or talk, which he says is a characteristic feature of modern souls and books.

According to Nietzsche (57) morality no longer guides people but there are forced by different legal circumstances to behave in a given way. In this essay, the writer will try to evaluate and analyze the genealogy of morality as noted by Nietzsche (57). Understanding genealogy of morality is a great way for people to look back and gauge where they went wrong in reference to bad ethics and morals in the society. Nietzsche makes an assertion that one becomes forced to admit that legal conditions could be nothing other than means to create larger units of power (Nietzsche 57).

He attacks the ideas that morality is selfless, the idea that suffering can be interpreted as rightful punishment to whoever experiences it because it sharpens their thinking on a given subject. He also argues on the conception of free will that involves the idea that agents could act differently from what they did (Nietzsche 57). Free will, even as anchored on the Holy Bible that God gave His people a free will to choose between what is right and wrong, is a big challenge to the society in reference to the decaying morals.

The moral decay happens because people no longer adhere to any traditional customs that guide their ethics and morals because they are free to choose and behave anyway they want despite societal values. He talks about a privileging of ‘slave values such as humility and devaluation of those such as pride and audacity, and the conception that morality involves obligations with unconditional obligations and that it is universally applicable or binding. Morality should be upheld at all instances, and governments should institute measures that will boost good morality for their citizens.

He argues that morality is not applicable to the whole universe and that after you strip down all the societal conventions and rules, you find out that the laws and rules that have been put in place are not about anything else but establishing systems of governance (Nietzsche 57). This implies that the society could not possibly exist without them in his opinion as there are always those desiring power, those who have it by virtue of being perhaps more intellectually gifted thereby giving them an edge, who will always devise means of governing the rest, and thus having power.

This maybe under the guise of protecting the interests of those governed. He presents society and social status as means of attaining dominion over others. Nietzsche (57) believes that the moral practices can be achieved in a society that values ethics and adores people who behave in an accepted manner in the society. Work citedNietzsche, Friedrich W, Walter A. Kaufmann, and Friedrich W. Nietzsche. On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Vintage Books, 1967. Print.