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On The Genealogy Of Morals

by Friedrich Nietzsche

On The Genealogy of Morals explores issues at the very core of human nature in three powerful essays. Here Nietzsche dissects the basic concepts of 'good', 'bad' and 'evil', goin on to examine humankind's transformation from barbarous creatures into civilized being who can feel remorse, regret, pity, and compassion but, in the process, destroy instinct and freedom. Nietzsche asks why the virtues of poverty humility and chastity have become so central to religion, even when they deny vitality and life itself. - From the Back cover of "On The Genealogy Of Morals" published by Penguin Classics.

My Thoughts

Spoilers... duh...

Upon reading the First Essay in "Genealogy of Morals" my brain hurt, in the first part, as it felt dense, as dense as any physics book I have ever read. I enjoyed that feeling as I read it on my back porch. I now, reading the Preface, at nearly the second time I have started to read the book, realize that in the last section Nietzsche himself remarks "If anyone fiinds what is written here obscure or unintelligible, I do not think that the blame should lie upon me. The meaning should be clear enough to any reader who has first read my previous writing carefully, without sparing himself the effort needed to understand them, foor that is not, indeed, a simple matter." (From the Preface of The Penguin Classics version of On the Genealogy of Morals Translated by Michael A. Scarpitti). This has been and will be my first forray into Nietzsche. I plan to read "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" after this, which after the above quoted remark, is used as an example of something of a piece to be understood before reading this. Wouldn't be the first time I have done things out of order.

'Good and Evil', 'Good and Bad'

In Section 2 Nietzsche says that "the judgement 'Good' did not originate among those to whom goodness was shown! Rather it has been 'good men' themselves, that is, the noble, the powerful, those of high degree, the high minded, who have felt that they themselves were good, and that their actions were good, that is to say of the first order, as opposed to all the low, the low-minded, the vulgar, and the plebian. It was from this pathos of distance that they first claimed the right to create values for their own benefit, and to coin the names of such values; what did they have to do with utility?" ("pathos of distance being a term used by Nietzsche to describe the separation between the masters and the herd") (Nietzsche, 15).

Good, was defined by the powerful or high born, and was defined as that the powerful or high born were good, and that the powerful's actions were good. This is opposed to all the weak, the low born.

"The pathos of nobility and distance, as I have said, the continuing and dominating collective instinct, and feeling of superiority of a higher race, a master race, in comparison to a subserviant race-this is the origin of the opposition of 'Good' and 'Bad'" (Nietzsche, 15)

A more eloquent restatement by Nietzsche of Nietzsche of his point of this essay, or at least part of it.

Section 5 Nietzsche goes and starts to define what he means when he says "The powerful," "The noble," He notes that arya means the owners in the Iranian and Slav languages, which is interesting when thinking about Hitler's "Aryan race" or Master race. He notes how the powerful also call themselves "the truthful" as seen by Theoginis a Megarian poet. This stance that the noble are the truthful was further impressed upon, to "complete the transition to the meaning 'noble', so that to exclude the lying vulgar man" (Nietzsche, 18). "after the decay of nobility, the word was kept alive to designate psychological noblesse, and as it were became ripe and sweet." (Nietzsche, 18). In opposition to this the word plebeian, cowardice is emphasized.

"Imagine the 'enemy' as the man of resentment conceives him - and it is here exactly that we see his work, his creativeness; he has conceived 'the evil enemy', the 'Evil One', and indeeed that is the inspiration from which he now concocts, as a counterpart, the 'Good One', himself- his very self!" (28). Finally we have the juxtaposition of good, bad, and evil. In the two schools of thought Nietzsche is interested in. We see that the Aristocratic Man, first defines 'good' as himself and those like him, and then 'bad' as everyone else. But we see what Nietzsche calls 'The man of resentment' in the translation of Penguin Classics' Michael Scarpitti but is called 'The man of ressentiment' in other translations. This resentiment is a feeling of resentment and hostility but also incapsulates a feeling of impotense as well. But 'The man of ressentiment' first defines everyone else as 'evil', and then himself and those like him 'good'. But, even in this good is not the same good, in both perspectives.

Section 12, is an interesting asside from Nietzsche about, which I was already thinking, about in 11, that Nietzsche doesn't like either the Aristocratic Man or the Priestly Man. That the Aristocratic Man is a Barbarian, and that the Priestly Man "Whose stench is beginning to fill present-day Europe, he at any rate has achieved a relative success," (31). Relative in regards to the Aristocratic Man. In 12 he says that he finds the bad air intolerable, and makes him choke and faint. Nietzsche also wants a goddess who can grant him an image of something perfect, "fully realized, happy, mighty, triumphant, one glimpse of something that still gives cause for fear! A glimpse of a man who justifies the existence of man himself, a paradigm, a man who atones for and redeems man, for whose sake we may cling to our faith in man!" (31-2). Nietzsche then goes back to say how "our greatest peril lurks in the European drift towards egalitarianism." This drift causing us to "regress towards something more reserved, more inoffensive, more cunning, more comfortable, more mediocre, more indifferent, more Christian" (32). From this I think that Nietzsche thinks that we should fear not living up to our own potential. That we shouldn't care about being found offensive, and that we should be afraid that we aren't being found offensive enough. That we should innovate, and try new things and create new things. In a way I think Nietzsche himself is criticizing all of Europe for becoming more "common." I would say that

Section 13 I like quite a lot as a whole but, Nietzsche puts an anology out there that I quite enjoy.

It is not suprising that the lambs should bear ill will against the great birds of prey, but that is no reason for blaming the great birds of prey for taking the little lambs. And when the lambs say among themselves. 'Those birds of prey are evil, and he who is most unlike a bird of prey, who is most like its opposite, a lamb - is he not good?' then there is nothing to cavil about in the setting-up of this ideal, except perhaps that the birds of prey will regard it with some measure of derision, and say to themselvs, 'We bear no ill will against these fine, goodly lambs, we even like them; nothing is tastier than a tender lamb.'

In this analogy it is no leap of faith to identify that the Aristocrats are the Birds of Prey and that the Priests are the lambs, made probably even more evident by analogies like "Priests are the shepards of the faithful."

What this analogy also reminds me of, is the typical "High School" trope of Jocks and Nerds. Where the Jocks go around flipping books and acting like they should be praised for it. And the Nerds are just like "Those Guys are assholes but theres nothing we can do about it because we are weak and they would beat us up". The Nerds also kinda imbodying Nice Guy Syndrome. And also this thinking "When we get out of highschool and you Jocks are shown to be a big dumb jerk, We'll be rich, because We (the Nerds) are smart." (When we all die you guys go to hell, and we get heaven).

I don't really know what Nietzsche is in the whole High School scenario, maybe he's Robin Williams in the "Dead Poets Society" where he's like "Lambs, you are right to know that what the Birds are doing is wrong, and good on you for that, but also you guys need to dare to stand on your desks!"

To Be Continued.