Nietzsche's Beyond Good And Evil

In the first essay of On The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche states clearly his stand that "Beyond Good and Evil... does not mean "Beyond Good and Bad"" (Nietzsche, page 143). Nietzsche makes the distinction between good/bad, and good/evil, by delineating the central idea that what is good and evil generally carries a morality to its definitions, whereas the former is essentially a social construct with slanted purposes and no true objectivity to its meanings. Nietzsche frames the idea that the values of good and bad, are fundamental to how we involve morality in our thinking, namely, how we assess what is good and what is evil.

As perhaps one of the most important pieces of work written by Nietzsche, “On the Genealogy of Morality” contains some of his most complex and provocative thoughts on the nature of morality and its origins. It is evident throughout his essays that Nietzsche has a profound discontent with modern society and its values, a discontent that Nietzsche attempts to explain through a thorough critique of the modern values that have stemmed from the rise of Judeo-Christianity values that have shaped today’s civilization. In his analysis of concepts such as morality and guilt, he explores the history of the deformation of the once noble and animalistic human society that succumbed to its death

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.

“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

Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher in the 1800’s. His work has since influenced, impacted, and brought forth new questions for many philosophers to follow. One of Nietzsche’s famous writings Beyond Good and Evil expresses his views on society and the two different classes it holds, slave and master. He expresses his belief that the two are in warfare with one another, the strong (master) fighting for the will to power, while the weak (slave) tries to pull the master down to their level using clandestine forms of revenge. Nietzsche believed the slave morality was one that included humility, obedience, and submission, and was the destructive choice and attribute of Christianity, while the master morality was full of arrogance and pride

Are there vulnerable people in Society? Yes, there are vulnerable people in society. Some examples of vulnerable people are: the elderly, uneducated citizens, the mentally handicapped, children, the poor, disabled veterans, women and prisoners. Unfortunately, this is an age-old problem; it is not brand new. How can we help the vulnerable people? We will look at this by comparing Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Young and Evil and A Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

Nietzsche argues that there is a perception of significant nothingness when it comes to the existence of human beings and that because of it, we’ve become tired of humanity altogether. This argument constitutes the idea that there is no longer hope for humanity; paradoxically, he points out that people, aristocrats, the superiors, and the wealthy have the audacity to say that we are “progressing”.

During a time where the ruling power played an important part of its civilization’s growth, the act of unity through a kingdom is brought upon an association of shared interests be it church or leadership. During the turn of the 19th century anyone trying to stand up to the kingdoms ideals were condemned or tortured. The medieval archetype of leadership was through power, belonging to the lands of knights and rulers. Power, be it ruled by the offerings of the Church or guidance of a lord was the point that drove the civilization. Covering several centuries between Machiavelli and Nietzsche there is a direct line of power stemming through both ideologies. If Machiavelli were to critique Nietzsche, I think he would remark that there needs to

His book, The Will to Power, introduced many subjects that the Nazis incorporated into their own philosophy. His amorphous and ambiguous writing style allowed room for the Nazis to use his ideas and views and assimilate them into their own belief and value system. The similarities found between his writings and Hitler’s Mein Kampf brought much fame, attention, and respect to all of Nietzsche’s works, which therefore caused the Nazis to regard his work as important to include in their theories and reasonings. All of these reasons provide evidence and show that Nietzsche was the most important influence on Nazi

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?

In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche discusses how he is not a believer in democracy. The principles of democracy were put together by levelers, or people that believe in democracy. These principles lead to equality that restrains life to one universal truth and Nietzsche did not agree with this idea at all. He believed that these principles caused people to form into one large herd. In this herd, people follow one another with no will to power, which results in the downfall of individual rights and instincts. This makes the herd the definition of morality in society, which Nietzsche disagrees with. But he brings up the idea of neighbor love. Neighbor love is the idea that we are all in one herd so we are all equal which creates us to all

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.

In Nietzsche’s aphorisms 90-95 and 146-162 he attacks what he believes to be the fundamental basis of the “slave” morality prevalent in the Judeo-Christian tradition as well as other religions and societies. From the beginning, he distinguishes the two different types of moralities he believes to exist: the “master morality”, created by rulers of societies, and the “slave” morality, created by the lowest people in societies. The former stresses virtues of the strong and noble while looking down upon the weak and cowardly. This type of morality, however, is not as widespread as the “slave morality” that has been adopted by so many religions. Nietzsche looks through the psychology and logic of

Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, and at the same time is able to destroy a person’s nature. William Shakespeare’s destructive play, Folger Shakespeare Library “Macbeth”, reveals the corrupting force of power through its complex characters and interactions. The play shows that even someone who starts out like Macbeth and does not crave power, will do terrible things to gain authority and power.