Morality. The Genealogy of Morality by Nietzsche - Essay Example

? Morality The Genealogy of Morality believes that there are two different moral s in the world that are good and evil and good and bad. The first dimension comes from the early conquerors and people who believed that their control over wealth and power or success was good and the other extreme was having nothing and being poor which meant being in a ‘bad’ situation. The second dimension that Nietzsche discusses is morality relating to slaves or priests, and this primarily deals with Jewish beliefs. This dimension believes that priests loath warriors and call their desire for power an evil act, and they believe that their own poverty or simple state is called good. These two beliefs are called slave and master morality. Slave morality seems to be much more refined as compared to master morality and it is driven by a feeling of anger or resentment. It was born of Christianity as Christian love is due to hatred and therefore it is in accordance with slave morality and its derivation from ‘ressentiment.’ (Nietzsche and Kaufmann) Even though slave morality is interesting and more complex as well to understand as compared to master morality and their self-assuredness, Nietzsche is apprehensive that it makes mankind a mediocre race and people who have generally an inherent perception of slave morality would like to prefer comfort and security over risk and conquest over the world. The priests believes in the slave morality and they believe that it saves them from evil and other perils of the afterlife, and the master morality will distract people from changing themselves for the better and making their present a better situation to live in. Most modern humans also perceive the slave morality in this way and act this way. Nietzsche also believes that there is a difference between the two kinds of morality be it good/bad or good/evil by giving the relevant example of lamb and bird of prey. The lamb would believe that the bird of prey is evil since it kills and that they themselves are good because they don’t kill. However, these statements become useless in the event that God has made them in such a way that they cannot kill; and not because of any moral account but simply because they are unable to, they don’t know what they would be capable of if they would be able to kill. Birds of prey similarly cannot be highlighted as wrong doers and evil simply because they are built in a way that they are to kill. If the deed, which is killing could be separated from the being that kills because it was made that way, then only could be condemn these birds for their deeds. Nietzsche also goes on to argue that there are instances when there is a deed, but no doer and then you cannot blame anyone. Such as lightning cannot be removed from the flash and seen independently and hence the fact that we view that the doer is distinct from his act is simply something we view because of society and its prejudices. Master morality is what the aspiration is so to say, slave morality is prevalent and not desirable. Nietzsche also believes that guilt originally didn’t have any moral aspects in it, and it was simply like a debt. A person who owed something to someone was in debt and guilty of it, and he owed a creditor some sum. Therefore a creditor could take advantage of that and could even make the debtor pay at any time or take penalties. This wasn’t to punish the debtor and make him feel bad about himself, but this was only for the creditor’s mirth and pleasure. Therefore punishment was like a paradox; it was cruel for the debtor and yet cheerful for the creditor and it was supposed to have been forgotten afterwards without any grudge from any party. Law and regulation is like a creditor in a society; if someone goes against the law then this means that they have broken and harmed society and they can be punished for this mistake. (Nietzsche and Kaufmann) Justice believes however that people don’t have that power to punish good or bad or evil and therefore takes it away from an individual and places it in the hands of society. Laws transcend beyond individuals and are the responsibility of society that is made up of people. The laws when imposed will punish people and not individuals punishing individuals. Nietzsche discusses the several different punishment processes and purposes over the years and relates a general pattern that every aspect has different dimensions and different histories behind it. Concepts get meaning because of the situation and the meaning can even change according to a situation. Concepts are dictated by a powerful entity. A bad or evil conscience was compared to the hunter gatherer and his transition phase to an agriculture based society. Our instincts in society are animalistic in nature and we have to suppress them in a society which is cooperative in nature and therefore we look to ourselves to confide in. Since we have an inner self, we struggle with it and what it holds and we shape beauty, religion, conscience and many other aspects within ourselves. Generally we believe that our bas conscience comes from our primary instincts, but Nietzsche also believes that we shouldn’t direct it to our conscience but to forces in life that allow us to deny these instincts. Nietzsche’s viewpoint moves beyond direct good and bad and good and evil into a modern realm. In the earlier years, or the pre-moral period in terms of morality of mankind, an action was labeled as good or bad depending on the outcomes it had. However, the concept of morality has evolved over time and actions are judged with regard to their morality depending on their intent and motivation and not their outcome. This, according to Nietzsche seems to be a prejudice and a bias that should be removed and is something only temporary. (Nietzsche and Kaufmann) Morality, he goes on to say must follow a power structure or an order and every culture become high in regard when they recognize the aspects that are important to a culture. However, in our modern day and age, there are many cultures, and each has their own beliefs, and yet some are labeled as high cultures and the norm where as others are low cultures and the definition for the two seems to be a biased and unfair one. Also, it difficult for morality to follow a power structure, because like organizations, life is becoming more decentralized and therefore it is ‘to each man his own’ and if each man follows with the concept of morality despite the order of the rank, then there will not be chaos in the world. As mentioned previously, there is a contrast in Nietzsche’s work between Christians and Jews. And even in Christians as well he draws a contrast between the southern or Catholic Christians and the Protestant Christians. Some are talented at religion and some lack that sense and he also believes that the New Testament can never be above the Old Testament. Religion it seems has always been attached to three aspects: fasting, solitude and abstaining from sexual activities and these activities help curb one’s appetite. However, it seems to have been a way of inflicting cruelty on people and God has ultimately been sacrificed in this quest. Christianity seems to have taken out everything happy and autocratic in mankind and made them similar to an ‘abortion’ and has therefore been fatal. Morality it seems in modern Europe is more of a ‘many moralities’ issues since people seem to be indulging in a herd behavior. This also comes about by the aforementioned slave and master morality. Nietzsche however rightly points out that there are other criterion for good and evil than what is defined by the noble and the base people and what they consider as good. Even when there is a consensus, men have different opinions over what is good and evil and this is important. (Nietzsche and Kaufmann) Love, according to Nietzsche is the longing for a woman and to acquire her, and this is the most unrefined form of his love that he wants to not get a woman but possess her and have a command over her. A more refined version of love would be to consider her soul and personality and her essence of sacrifice. This, he believes is a better form of love and desire that the former. Further on this scale of refinement would be to expect the woman to know the true sense of sacrifice, because people sometimes sacrifice themselves for what would seem like a mirage of their lover and would in actuality be wasting their efforts, and therefore a man would want a woman he desires to know him well enough to be able to sacrifice herself to his true self. This scale and concept called ‘order ranking’ can apply to any other concept or order in the state. The highest rank is a form of ‘complete possession’ and is the highest order of spirituality as well because on a scale of good and evil, the most refined version is the better one in terms of goodness in morality as well. The weak, according to this morality, will eventually rein the world since they are ‘good’ and they form a new world which is titles the ‘Kingdom of God.’ First they will submit and be meek but however, the slave mortality man will eventually be rewarded for his humbleness and the powerful man will have to succumb to lowness and be punished because his power has evil in it. Once you desire nothing, you are ‘good’ and unified with God. Slave morality seems to be winning in this day and age, whether one considers the Jewish and Christian aspect of it, or otherwise. However, it doesn’t mean that it is the best mentality to be with since it has actually poisoned the human race and made us sick and weak, while making the powerful low, and it has squeezed all that is essentially ‘good’ and made us proud as a race. (Nietzsche and Kaufmann) Works Cited Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm and Walter Kaufmann. On the genealogy of morals : and Ecce Homo. Random House, 1969. Read More