Nietzsche's Beyond Good And Evil

Literary Essay - Unveiling the dynamics of power within the individual: through the texts The Crucible and Cleverman Power is a multifaceted concept which is intricately intertwined with individuality, where the unique qualities of each person wield the potential to influence, change, and shape society through their actions and beliefs. As Friedrich Nietzsche famously articulated, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. " This quote encapsulates the precarious nature of power, warning against the inherent dangers of its pursuit. It is particularly telling of modern society, as it reflects the constant struggle individuals face

According to Nietzsche, the right and wrong (good and bad, good and EVIL) are just a type of the concept. Nietzsche explains that from the beginning in his first argument that the “good” did not originate among those to whom goodness was shown. It explains that the trait of “good” was really a trait as we know it today, it was actually people who were good themselves, which is Aristocratic who are powerful, high minded and high class people who controls the class below them and also politics in some cases. This was the concept that defined what right and wrongs were because it cleared things out that good was really a trait but the people who were powerful and high class in society, unlike bad which was completely opposite. But over the time

History is brimming with examples of people who, in a ravenous quest for power, have met their untimely end. Lord John Acton famously quipped: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Perhaps, prior to making those astute remarks, Lord Acton had studied The Tragedy of Macbeth. The complex characters and their interactions in William Shakespeare’s iconic play reveal that corrupting force power can have on man.

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.

Nietzsche was a revolutionary author and philosopher who has had a tremendous impact on German culture up through the twentieth century and even today. Nietzsche's views were very unlike the popular and conventional beliefs and practices of his time and nearly all of his published works were, and still are, rather controversial, especially in On the Genealogy of Morals. His philosophies are more than just controversial and unconventional viewpoints, however; they are absolutely extreme and dangerous if taken out of context or misinterpreted. After Nietzsche's death it took very little for his sister to make some slight alterations to his works to go along with Nazi ideology.

Power as a corrupting force has been present from the beginning of time and is often revealed in many works of literature. In the novel Frankenstein by Marry Shelly and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, corruption of power is well brought forth in the characters in both texts. In both stories, characters reveal power as a corrupting force through their thirst of knowledge. Characters also reveal power as a corrupting force through character change. In addition, the character’s action justify how corrupted they really are. Therefore, power corrupts the individuals because of character’s extreme ambition which leads to

The Noble man sees themselves as good removes idea of what bad is. “The slave revolt in morality begins when resentment itself becomes creative and gives birth to values: the resentment of natures that are denied the true reaction, that of deeds, and compensate themselves with an imaginary revenge. While every noble morality develops from a triumphant affirmation of itself, slave morality from the outset says No to what is “outside,” what is “different: what is “not itself”; and this NO is its creative deed.” Nietzsche’s view on slave morality and how slave morality should be considered good as it is not violent as well as slave morality relying on justice.

It does not find its root and origin in objective circumstances; it originates from a place of suppression, of seeking freedom, and most significantly, of ressentiment. Herein the idea Nietzsche proposes is that the slaves are responsive against their noble masters because they are weak and impotent, leading to the festering of hatred and resentment. This means that values culminating from the revolt would be inaccurate in representing the true meaning of “good” or “evil”, because they were formed through the tainted lens of the slaves of ressentiment. They would portray the slaves, the weak, and the powerless as “good” and favourable, while casting the nobles, the masters, and the upperclassmen in an “evil” and malicious light. This inverts the original notion that the nobles are the definition of “good”. Nietzsche expounds this situation by clarifying that the nobles become “blond beast[s]” (Nietzsche, page 128) when out of their familiar circumstances, insinuating that they turn into a barbaric state where they seek victory over those who are inferior to them. In turn, displays of brutality will be expressed, as a by-product of this barbarism and therefore, fulfilling the morality of the nobles as “evil”. Nietzsche also expresses that this form of morality may not always be beneficial; it cages the

“As soon as a religion comes to dominate it has as its opponents all those who would have been its first disciples.” Nietzsche was one of the first modern philosophers to rebel against rationalism and when World War I came about, the revolution against religion truly became a legitimate statement. Friedrich Nietzsche strongly believed that many of those that practiced religion were led to the acceptance of slave morality. Religion had always played a fundamental role in society as it sets strict boundaries and standards of what is morally correct and incorrect. However, Nietzsche claims that, “Human nature is always driven by “ ‘the will to power’ ”, but religion will tell one otherwise, saying that one should forbid their bad desires. In Nietzsche’s

We have grown weary of man. Nietzsche wants something better, to believe in human ability once again. Nietzsche’s weariness is based almost entirely in the culmination of ressentiment, the dissolution of Nietzsche’s concept of morality and the prevailing priestly morality. Nietzsche wants to move beyond simple concepts of good and evil, abandon the assessment of individuals through ressentiment, and restore men to their former wonderful ability.

Fredrick Nietzsche, a renowned German philosopher, believed that one of the strongest governing drives that humans possess, is their desire for power. Essentially when we closely examine the idea of power in literature, we see that much of the conflict in novels is about power; the struggle to gain, maintain or redress the balance of power. The need for power is a reality of life; to use or abuse, to claim or deny, own or disown, to marginalize or empower. This theme is omnipresent throughout literature about the Holocaust. Hitler and his struggle for power and dominance are infamous. Novels and films set in World War II often examine the issues of power in terms of race, age, gender and social class. One such novel is The Boy in the

wickedness, according to its biblical meaning, refers to the mental disregard for justice, trust, honour, and the evil in thought and in purpose. It will be argued here that The Prince is not a handbook for wickedness as some such as Strauss might think, but on the other hand that The Prince is a guide for efficient ruling. Indeed, in The Prince Machiavelli shows political

Friedrich Nietzsche, in the Genealogy of Morality, dedicates his second essay to prove that justice, is ultimately a version of the equalization of suffering, in terms of the creditor/debtor relationship. Through the course of this paper, I will discuss whether Nietzsche’s belief of justice being a form of the equalization of suffering is sound. My argument will be presented in three phases: I will first provide background information in reference to the creditor/debtor relationship, I will then elucidate what Nietzsche means by his belief, and lastly, I will explain and evaluate Nietzsche’s concept of justice and the equalization of suffering.

Nietzsche does not dispute the influence that Socrates has imposed on the world. Rather, Nietzsche disputes the philosophy that he has imposed on the world, believing it to be detrimental to humankind. In this paper, I argue that Nietzsche finds Socrates and his philosophy to be life-negating and causal of decline, while any form of existence should be life-affirming and empowering, though such a form has yet to exist in the modern era. In order to prove this, I will first examine his critique of Socrates, demonstrating that Socrates, as an individual, belonged to the lowest level of society in Athens as a consequence of his repulsive figure, and therefore, created his philosophy not with the intent of enlightenment, but as a ressentiment (i.e. resentment) towards the Athenian aristocracy. Second, I will examine

Nietzsche argued that a distinction existed between the morality of master and those of their slaves, or those who are poor and powerless compared to the masters. Master morality is attitude where good and bad are equivalent to noble and despicable respectively. The master creates value and it defined as good by the master, because of the power they have. The masters look at the slaves and see that the slaves characterized by the opposite of what characterizes them as master, and thus think that the slaves are bad. So, master’s morality defined by the identity of the masters. In the other hand, slave morality, is something that is developed by the slaves, or those who are poor, powerless and weak compared to the master’s morality. They resent