On the Genealogy of Morals Review/Summary

On the Genealogy of Morals Friedrich Nietzsche 

First Nietzsche read. Was profound but not for everyone, largely romantic and contrary to the logical analytical thought of later years. Very literary and historical, largely a philosophy of belief rather than truth, still very interesting.

Essay 1: "Good and Evil", "Good and Bad"

A slave revolt has resulted in the ressentiment of value judgements of what "good" is. The poor, aided by Judeo-Christian values have found a cunning way to wage century-long warfare against the nobles, strong, warriors. The philology shows that "good" actually means "proper" and "strong" not "nice" but this was changed in a slave revolt as stated above to Evil. Bad was originally and still is just "not proper" the opposite of good. Being powerful and strong and individualistic was seen as a sin and EVIL and GOOD was now the humble and meek, traits supposedly found among the slaves (slaves does not mean slaves it just means those subjugated).

According to slaves, masters lack the authority and right to possess the traits of individualism because these traits are evil, look at the seven deadly sins. Much like Hegel notes the goal of the slave is actually not to become the master, but to smother him and surreptitiously value guilt him to his level. He wants the extinction of the "blond beast". The powerful are dammed by religion and the rich and powerful are looked as evil. These value judgements automatically damn humans for their imperfections and seeking of power when they should not.

The man of ressentiment becomes more clever yet needs to lie to himself to keep up the facade. They seek to constrain others power as they are too weak or culturally poisoned to take off their shackles. This man can also be lead to a subtle form of nihilism, through a belief that nothing matters in this world. This man sadly believes himself to be the good man because of the prevalence of these values. But this man is actually weakened from these values and they interpret weakness as freedom and equate that as merit.

Though the slave morality runs rampant in society that does not mean it is all bad and should be stopped. It is just so odd that we humans choose times to condemn power. A morality must be formed that transcends slave and master morality allowing the individual to be a fully autonomous yet respectful being. Cultivating their own sets of proper ethics.


Essay 2: "Guilt""Bad Conscience" and Related Matters.

Before the formation of guilt, humans were governed by transactional relations which had a debtor and a creditor. A consciousnesses becomes branded in memory through a hurt fully long process. However, man becomes forgetful to null the pain and develops a sense of control of the future "memory". This is where promises were created, but the psychological effect of the branding still remains.

The word guilt in German "Schuld" originated from debt "Schulden". Punishment for crimes and "debts" occurs out of anger of harm done. And the creditor can physically harm the debtor, creating a sense of pleasure yet also guilt (Schadenfreude) (Debt -> Guilt).

Once man become conscious of his cruelty he become more pessimistic and mistrusting of life and man. Ashamed of his instincts. The opposite of todays ideals are referenced, with suffering  being an argument against existence when Nietzsche argues the opposite. It is not actually the physical suffering which is the most painful but the meaningless of suffering which is where religion takes center stage, allowing God to invent suffering and self justification of "evil". Communities undergo the same relationship between debtor and creditor as well and as a community becomes stronger the misdemeanors of the individual are not as important, as the community weakens harsher forms of punishment emerge.

 It is interesting as it seems punishment does not undergo what many people would expect its purpose which is to develop remorse. Instead people punished feel alienated. The broad effect of punishment is to increase fear.

Ressentiment also emerges through attempts to justify revenge through justice. To counter this one must impersonal evualte the deed, however this is difficult as legal conditions are biologically wired. Shown through Adaptation>>>Activity. Every instinct that does not vent itself externally turns inwards and against man. A violent separation from mans animal past ensues and Gods condemn us.
Only the bad conscience man the man who mistreats himself fuels this sense of unegoism.



Essay 3: Ascetic Ideals

The ascetic ideal was formulated through a fear in man, a fear of the void.
The ascetic priest introduces morality to the both the warrior and the sick herd. He is capable to invert the ressentiment of the herd back towards themselves, to look to sin rather than ressentiment. He is also capable of making the noble more humble.

The ascetic represents life against life, (fasting, chastity etc). Every philosopher according to Nietzsche was once an ascetic, controlling themselves. The Ascetic ideal is a complex exerting of the Will to Power through both a physiological and psychological warfare against oneself exerting ones originality in the rawest most extreme measure. However this want to be different chains him to be a tool or a door for others. His ideals allow him as a shepherd for the herd to tame them. In order to take care of the sick you must yourself he sick. There is nothing more dangerous to the strong than the sick. The priest defends the herd against the strong, and the herd against himself, the herd through wild ressentiment can also harm the strong. Instead the Priest turns the ressentiment of the herd to themselves, he tells the herd you are the reason that you suffer. In order to combat the guilt and depression the priest introduces new remedies, giving others pleasure (this is a sneaky way to showing your Will to Power), abstaning from pleasure, routines. A bad way we combat this is the "orgy of feeling" in which the an external affect awakens a rush of an intense feeling were the affect takes over.

This ideal takes different forms. But ultimately is a true fundamental contention with life and an embrace of suffering. The ideals of artists need to be propped up by philosophies. Philosophers show the ascetic ideal through the lens of the spectator. Detached and general. The philosopher consciously avoids things that stray him off what he is good at or wants to be.

The priests were the first philosophers, they were contemplative and produced fear in others, controlling. The Warriors feared them a bit (Look at Socrates).

It is natural to avoid what we are bad at, we remain what we are good at and can become mediocre and avoid suffering. Humility, Poverty and Chasity must be controlled in order to change ourselves.
Ascetic priest does not want to master something in life but to master life itself.

To gain true objectivity is not impersonal but rather personal to all, an understanding of all.

The ascetic faith still lingers in philosophy and science. Philosophers and science seek to find values and posit that there is a universal truth at the bottom of life. The will to truth must be an existential problem to the individual.