Paper 5 (1) ,Lesson 15 Nietzsche 04 -JULY-13

From the previous

1. Explain with examples Marx views on ethics.

2. What is the importance of concept of alienation?

Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) enables man to take huge leap forward towards freedom.
This extraordinary philosopher attempted something none ever – including religious figures – did before.

Issues of morality, throughout history, were discussed with a slant: how should an individual be kind towards
others, how not to hurt others, how not to cheat others etc. If man is helping himself, he is pursuing his
pleasure. Man is by nature will pursue it. But will his pursuit obstruct that of the others? How should he be
prevented from obstructing others’ happiness? Better, how should he be made to contribute to others’
happiness? These have been the moral issues discussed all through the centuries.

The focus of morality has been on taming man. Enter Nietzsche. The issue is not how to tame so that he can
be helpful to others. The issue is how to retain, how to express, how to realize one’s basic instincts? More
importantly, how to express and how to pursue man’s “will to power”?

This will to power, which Freud would later call aggression, is a basic instinct of man. Darwin showed –
Darwinism is an important source to Nietzsche – that this instinct is the basis for the evolution of more
intelligent species like man. Nietzsche noticed that Christian ethics condemn this instinct and glorify its
absence. That Nietzsche found to be wrong.

In The Genealogy of Morals (1887) Nietzsche put forwards the idea that morality is cultural. This idea was
first proposed by the sophists. Morality changes, as culture changes. This idea is central to modern social
sciences like Anthropology. Nietzsche attempted to trace the genealogy of morals – the ancestry of the
present day morals.

Nietzsche says Christian morality is only one kind of morality, which is of a recent origin. This morality is
based on the opposition between good and sin. Nietzsche argues what Christianity considers good and bad is
inappropriate to the man’s progress. Christianity glorifies humility and not pride, meekness and not strength,
and suffering and not success. This kind of morality doesn’t encourage man to seek strength. Nietzsche
called this slave morality.

The ancient Greeks didn’t have this slave morality. Courage, physical strength and mental strength were
called good. Not having them was bad. Good corresponded to strength, bad corresponded to weakness.
That, Nietzsche, called noble morality.

Noble morality was not suddenly replaced by slave morality. It had passed through morality that Judaism
gave: glorification of ascetic values, and repudiation of physical and sensory pleasures. With Judaism began
the glorification of weakness which became part of Christian ethics.

So what is wrong with Christian ethics? It represses strength. It is anti-progress. It is against human nature.

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 Paper 5 (1) ,Lesson 15 Nietzsche 04 -JULY-13

Christian morality may not make a man very strong, but can’t it make him at least kind towards others?
Wouldn’t at least make social life easier? Nietzsche’s emphatic answer: ‘no’. Because Christian morality is
not suitable to man and society is glorifying the unsuitable, man hides his real nature to look good in the
eyes of others. His mind becomes twisted, corrupted, finally unkind. What Christ values, he will not find in
man through this type of morality. So the Christian morality is both useless and dangerous.

Then why are so many trying to follow this morality? Nietzsche answers mankind has not realized that God is
dead and with Him the sin, the heaven and hell. Though God died through the explosion of reason, the
morality that based itself on divine sanction but not on the human nature is continuing. It is time man got rid
of Christian morality like he got rid of God.

Daringly Nietzsche thought he was offering or trying to work out the right type of morality that is in tune
with human nature, to the post-God world.

Evaluation A

Old morality didn’t take into consideration Darwinism and the power of aggression in the evolution of higher
species. Nietzsche’s correction was very much needed. Social sciences in fact moved in the direction
Nietzsche wanted – be it realism in International Relations, recognition of power of greed in Economics.

Evaluation B

Coming to Christian ethics, was Jesus wrong in insisting on forgiveness, in glorifying pity? Do these virtues
weaken individuals? Yes and no. If forgiveness/ kindness is forced either by one’s own will or that of others, it
leads to twisted mind. Action that is dissociated from state of mind wouldn’t contribute to psychological
health. Things do get complicated. On the other hand, when forgiveness/kindness comes naturally, the mind
is cleansed.

It can be argued that forgiveness is not appropriate in every case. Jesus should have asked those unable to
forgive to settle their disputes through the exchange of blows, while encouraging thos who can forgive to
settle the issues through kindness. What is enslaving is not pity or kindness, but the mismatch between
action and feeling.

Kindness/selflessness should be a result of natural flowering of the individual. Then only it has beauty.
Otherwise we see twisted minds and miserable souls.

Evaluation C
There was one important incident in Nietzsche’s life before he turned insane. He was standing in the balcony
of his apartment upstairs when he saw on the road a horse being flogged. He ran down to save the horse and
after reaching it collapsed. From that he never recovered. It shows he was moved by kindness, an emotion
against which he fought lifelong. Probably kindness had him so hard that he never recovered from the blow
to sing again in praise of aggression!

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 Paper 5 (1) ,Lesson 15 Nietzsche 04 -JULY-13

Evaluation D

Nietzsche was against the glorification of suffering. But Nietzsche suffered more than Jesus. Nietzsche
became insane, was sent to asylum and brought home only to lead a meaningless life on bed for a decade.
Why did he suffer when he didn’t value suffering?

In fact suffering is only in the eyes of the people who did not the meaning of life, true source of happiness.
Socrates did not suffer taking poison; Jesus didn’t suffer on the cross; nor did Nietzsche suffer doing things
that would turn him mad. They would willingly do it a thousand times.

Nietzsche did what Jesus did, but claiming he was anti-Christ. For people to notice and the importance of
what he was teaching, Christ too might call anti-Christ in a different age.

To be covered under Paper 5(1): Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Ramana, Bentham and
Mill

To be covered under Paper 5(2): Sartre, Liang

To be covered under Paper 5(3): Adam Smith, Ruskin, Amartya Sen, Yunus, Bill Gates, Veblen, Schumacher,
Anna Hazare, Thucydides (in the context of IR)

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