In Beyond Good & Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche seeks to develop the idea of moral philosophy beyond basic pleasures, how they relate to the general population, and further into our own personal intricacies and how they create a set of rules that apply to most individuals. Throughout the book, Nietzsche articulate well over 200 epigrams, each of which highlights a different aspect of human morality. Nietzsche’s 68th epigram dictates: “‘I have done that,’ says my memory. ‘I cannot have done that,’ says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually--memory yields.” When assessing this aphorism, it is not only important to assess why our memory yields and what ensues as a result, but also what would occur if we didn’t. One could argue that we must …show more content…
“...The intention...still requires interpretation--moreover, a sign that means too much and therefore, almost nothing.” (Nietzsche, 44) Because of this, he concludes that much more is concretely said in our unintentional actions. The first notion shows an individual that intentionally recalls their mistakes and unintentionally becomes part of a cycle of guilt that prevents moral progression. The second shows an individual who unintentionally yields his memory to his pride and is, as a result pushed forward. Because of Nietzsche’s stressed importance of consequences and actions rather than the intentions of an individual, it is clear that although the notion of remembering our mistakes may be considered worthy, the second interpretation provides a far more morally strong and consequential reality. Beyond the question of intention and consequences, one must also wonder how important the accuracy of one’s memory is to how they react to it. When thinking about morality and guilt, it would seem as if honesty would be one of the most, if not the most important factor. But if a memory is untrue or inaccurate, how does that factor into its eventual succession to pride? similarly to his response to general moral philosophy, Nietzsche also admonishes the idea of objective truth and recognizes untruth as a “condition of life.” Nietzsche rejects the idea of repelling what is untrue stating that we must accept
In his book, Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche examines the origins of Good and Evil. He postures that these two concepts are derived from language, rather than essential morality. He argues that people label things as good or evil based upon their personal feelings and position of privilege. Douglas Smith translated this edition of Genealogy of Morals into English, but he also included explanations of some of Nietzsche’s key concepts. According to Smith, “A central concept in Nietzsche’s argument, ressentiment is the essence of slave morality, a purely reactive mode of feeling which simply negates the active and spontaneous affirmation of values on the part of the nobility” (142). Ressentiment stems from the oppressed party’s jealousy. The oppressed do not accept that it is bad that they do not have the luxuries and rights that the nobility posses. Instead, the oppressed use ressentiment, flip the moral spectrum, and declare that those luxuries are evil.
However, this cannot be said for all victims of guilt as the author makes sure to heed the consequences of
In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower, he recounts his incidence of meeting a dying Nazi soldier who tells Simon that he was responsible for the death of his family. Upon telling Simon the details, Karl asks for his forgiveness for what he helped accomplish. Simon leaves Karl without giving him an answer. This paper will argue that, even though Karl admits to killing Simon’s family in the house, Simon is morally forbidden to forgive Karl because Karl does not seem to show genuine remorse for his committed crime and it is not up to Simon to be able to forgive Karl for his sins. This stand will be supported by the meaning of forgiveness, evidence from the memoir, quotes from the published responses to Simon’s moral question, and arguments from
Nietzsche introduces the initial concepts of what is good to be determined by those who have benefitted from unegoistical
2. The main idea of this quote is that not everything inherently given to you is meant to be acted upon. For example, say a woman has been cheated on by her previous boyfriend. From then on, she is skeptical, and has trust issues with future lovers; Those of which cause her to believe that it’s okay to have all of their social media passwords, and forbid them from being friends with other girls. Sure, she has the right to do so; She has been hurt. But on the other side of the spectrum, her future boyfriends didn’t do anything to deserve that. This quote still proves useful today, because it helps readers see another perspective than theirs, and question their moral standpoint.
Quite possibly the most poignant and eye-opening relationship of the entire play of Hamlet and his mother, becomes sabotaged by Hamlet internalizing Catholic driven dogma. People often resort to using religion as a moral compass to give their lives structure and personal guidance. Friedrich Nietzsche, a prominent figure associated with the existential movement states in his book, Beyond Good and Evil, that “Perhaps one the most solemn concepts which have occasioned the most strife and suffering, the concepts ‘God’ and ‘sin’, will one day seem to us of no more importance than a child’s toy and a child’s troubles” (82). Clearly, Nietzsche actively rejects the concept of committing sins, which is the binding force in most religions. To begin,
The quotation made by the Misfit can also be a statement based on his religious beliefs. The idea of being punished for a forgotten crime can refer to the Christian belief in original sins. In Christian theology the belief is, all humans being born are naturally born sinners and they will be punished eternally. In other words, humans tend to “forget” their crime but are still punished for it, this is somewhat similar to
This paper is a comparative study between Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil and Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Detailing their views regarding ethical and unethical law.
We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, some day we'll stop making goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember every generation." (163)
This one quote snatched my attention. Signifying every being holds or has held a misdeed deep inside of themselves. This in my perspective links to the quote cited in article 3- line 8 “Or he actually did commit adultery and feels bad, but wants everyone to know even though he may be a leader he is also still a human, meaning humans accidentally sin by nature”. I’m amazed on how, just because a person is in a certain role in a religious scale doesn’t mean they struggle with the act of committing
In this paper, I am going to elucidate on the significance of the concepts of forgiveness and forgetfulness in Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche’s conceptualization of human action and agency.
“The evil that men do, lives after them, The good is oft’ interred with their bones”. The evil that one decides to do will be on their own conscious although it will still affect the people around them.
Nietzsche starts this second essay by looking at and reviewing the importance of our ability to make and keep promises. To hold yourself and others to a promise means having the need of both a good memory, the ability to remember making said promise and a strong feeling of confidence what will happen next and a long term ability to know you will be able to fulfil said promise. In order for us to make the commitment and have the confidence to do so means that on some level, we must give a feeling and make ourselves into the ideal of becoming in a way predictable, to be able to achieve this we as humans need a set of guideline to follow, certain rules that make this predictability a possibility, the certainty that a set of actions will lead to a set of reactions both internally and externally.
In Nietzsche’s account, the original free-roaming man lacked memory. To be happy and to not hold on to the pain of unpleasant memories, man possessed an “active ability” to forget (36). Man’s memory developed as he formed relationships and began making promises to repay debts to his creditors. He had to remember to repay on time or face the pain of punishment – a pain that the creditor of this relationship took
5. Discuss Nietzsche’s theory of “will to power” and “the innocence of becoming”. Does the hypothesis of the will to power successfully “debunk” traditional religion, morality, and philosophical claims to provide the “disinterested” or “objective” truth?