In Friedrich Nietzsche’s book On the Genealogy of Morality, he argues about the implications of pity and states that “[t]he sick represent the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not the strongest but the weakest who spell disaster for the strong” (121-122). Pity, according to Nietzsche, is morally and politically dangerous to the structure and effectiveness of a society. This clash between the strong and the weak highlights the importance of Nietzsche’s argument of challenging the status quo where those who are strong and healthy have a moral responsibility to care for the weak/sick. According to Nietzsche, it is the weak who have a stronghold influence on the strong by monopolizing pity as a virtue and utilizing it against the strong. …show more content…
This is morally dangerous because of the burden that is imposed by the weak to the strong. In conventional terms, a common consensus among society is that the sick should be taken care of by those who are relatively well off. This idea of the strong helping the weak revolves around the concept of moral responsibility and the obligations that come with being healthy. Nietzsche, however, rejects this argument by asserting that society devotes too much care for the sick and that in itself is a detriment to society. Nietzsche adds that all members of society eventually struggle and therefore it is not the job of the strong to use their time and resources to take care of the poor. (122-123) Cynically, Nietzsche adds that the weak resent the strong because “[t]hey monopolize virtue, these weak, hopelessly sick people, there is no doubt of it: “we alone are the good and just,”… they walk among us embodied reproaches, as warnings to us --- as if health, well-constitutedness, strength, pride, and the sense of power were in themselves necessarily vicious things” (123) It is therefore, not morally right for the strong to care for the weak because pity reduces their strength by forcing the strong to dedicate precious time and resources to the weak. By monopolizing virtue and associating it with pity, the weak are manipulating and exploiting the strong into …show more content…
Society invests in various social programs that are designed to assist the poor in combatting poverty and increasing their standard of living. Nevertheless, those funds are not reciprocated in the same fashion for other things such as the arts, sciences, and other investments that target individuals who wish to cultivate their minds. As a result, pity would have a detrimental impact politically on society because the strong would be incentivized to take care for the weak out of guilt. This is politically dangerous because a society that devotes much of its resources to the weak can jeopardize the success of the strong. Nietzsche adds to this by asserting that “If they [weak] succeed in poisoning the consciences of the fortunate with their own misery, with all misery, so that one day the fortunate began to be ashamed of their good fortune and perhaps said one to another: “it is disgraceful to be fortunate: there is too much misery!” (124). Nietzsche believed that the weak felt powerless and therefore wanted to the strong to feel guilty for being powerful. By trapping the strong in a corner using guilt, the weak are in essence discouraging the strong from maximizing their potential through the acquisition of knowledge and virtue. In order to prevent this, he argues that “the sick should
In the Genealogy of Morality, Friedrich Nietzsche took on a cardinal role in challenging traditional morality: a bid to provide a “critique of moral values” and an examination of “the value of these values”. Setting up his project as a ‘crusade’ against morality, Nietzsche set out simultaneous attacks on numerous targets such as Christian morality, utilitarianism, and the ethics of ‘compassion’, that make up much of our understanding of morality. This essay seeks to evaluate Nietzsche’s take on traditional
In Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals First Essay it is his primary goal to explain where our concept of morality originated. He begins this essay by explaining the origin of morality as it historically relates to psychologists that he refers to as “historians of morality.” These early philosophers claim that our ancestors performed “unegoistic” acts that were useful to them and labeled that as “good”. A concept of “good” was created, and then formed into a habit and with this the original notion was
In his Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche examines the origins of the pervading moral system of his time to Christian values, which elevate restraint and self-denial. In his writings, Marx attributes societal ills to capitalism and the exploitation of the working class. Marx and Nietzsche trace depression and the modern malaise to people's inabilities to realize their potential and act on human instinct, which can be formalized with a notion of alienation of the self, because the constraints
In section 13 of Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality, he presents his audience with a metaphor, “That the lambs feel anger toward the great birds of prey does not strike us as odd: but that is no reason for holding it against the great birds of prey that they snatch up the little lambs for themselves.” (Section 13, 25). In this passage, Nietzsche details the complex relationship between the birds of prey and the lambs. Firstly, I argue that the birds of prey represent the noble class
Friedrich Nietzsche discusses plenty about moral goods, and ultimately tries to develop a critical understanding of morality, in his novel written On the Genealogy of Morality (2007). This can be compared to many situations that have occurred, from citizens revolting against their government to minorities being left out of society. The two articles that I will be comparing to Nietzsche’s ideologies for this assignment are based upon the Burkini ban in France. The first article discusses the causes for
We were introduced to Friedrich Nietzsche who had written several essays titled “On the Genealogy of Morality”. The beautiful thing about philosophy is it allows us to constantly keep thinking and consider other people’s point of view. Prior to reading these essays, we had read about Plato, St. Augustine and later the Buddha. All of them believed in some type of after life, while Nietzsche did not. He was considered an atheist to some, but he believed in asceticism. Nietzsche references Plato,
Nietzsche in his polemic on the genealogy of morality attempts to critique our current moral attitudes towards the world by looking at how valuable these moral values actually are, what the central features of these moral values are and the question of where these moral values came from. In this essay, I, will begin by looking at these critiques of the value of values before moving onto the conclusions that Nietzsche draws from said critiques about the moral values and the central features of these
The Genealogy of Morals is a polemic view of morality written by the idiosyncratic German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The first book develops on 3 fundamental concepts. The concept of the Slave Morality, Ressitement, and the Aristocratic Morality. In the First book Nietzsche attempts to show the distinction of Good vs. Evil through genealogy. A genealogy could be comparable to an intricate etymology. A genealogy would be a historical approach to any philosophical question by first determining
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher who, unlike his predecessors, did not create a moral theory. Instead, Nietzsche wanted to critique morality. Nietzsche noticed that over the long period of time philosophers have been trying to explain morality, there still was not census on one theory. So, he decided to look at the genealogy of morality to question moral values themselves. Nietzsche did this by using history, psychology, and philology to examine the conditions under which the terms good
In this essay I will be discussing the topic of Nietzsche’s contrast of Good-Bad Morality with Good-Evil morality. The argument that I will be imposing is that despite Nietzsche contrasting view on both Good-Bad morality with Good-Evil morality they are the same as it is just peoples view on them that has led them to think that they are different from each other. In the first essay by Nietzsche in The Genealogy of Morals, he explains both how the words good and bad become defined and how they have
Exegesis and Critique of Nietzsche’s Conception of Guilt In The Second Essay of On the Genealogy of Morality In the Second Essay of On the Genealogy of Morals (titled ““Guilt,” “Bad Conscience,” and the Like”), Nietzsche formulates an interesting conception of the origin and function of guilt feelings and “bad conscience.” Nietzsche’s discussion of this topic is rather sophisticated and includes sub-arguments for the ancient equivalence of the concepts of debt and guilt and the existence of an
In essay two of Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’, ‘Guilt’, ‘bad conscience’ and related matters, Nietzsche seeks to explore the origins and constructs of guilt and in doing so, presents us with an account where the concept of guilt has been misconstrued by the evolution of society. This very shift in our understanding of guilt has subsequently led to, what Nietzsche claims to be, “bad conscience”. To understand this evolution of guilt and the entity of “bad conscience” it is necessary to
concepts. Nietzsche, on the other hand, is seen to be a counter-Enlightenment and counter-systematic philosopher who penned the well-known text, ‘Genealogy of Morals’. In this essay, I aim to bring to light the underlying similarities between the two thinkers that have previously been overlooked, as well as to identify the differences in Hegel and Nietzsche’s ideologies and presuppositions. Hegel identifies three types of History; Original History, which is written during the historical period being
constantly discussed throughout Nietzsche’s work, but the connection between them is discussed best in his book On the Genealogy of Morality. The first of the three essays outlines two alternate structures for the creation of values, which is credited to masters and the other to slaves. These two structures are controlled by different intangible themes. The first is ‘good/bad’ in terms of master morality and the second is ‘evil/good’ in terms of the slave morality. Noble classes and races, according
What does Nietzsche’s Mr. Daredevil-Curiosity report, when he metaphorically peers into the workshop within which moral ideals are fabricated (GM I.14)? How convincing are his claims? Humanity, according to Nietzsche, is infected by an illness. It is the kind of illness that has infected every single man, religious or non-religious alike. It is his aim to release his readers from the illness. In much the same way as a doctor, he wishes to do so by primarily sourcing the cause of the illness, and