|
 [The cultural super-ego] assumes that a man's ego
is psychologically capable of anything that is required of it;
that his ego has unlimited mastery over his id. This is a mistake;
and even in what are known as normal people the id cannot be
controlled beyond certain limits. If more is demanded of a man,
a revolt will be produced in him, or a neurosis, or he will be
made unhappy. The commandment, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself',
is the strongest defense against human aggressiveness and an
excellent example of the unpsychological proceedings of the cultural
super-ego."
From Sigmund
Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, VIII, p. 90
Reader's
Questions
- What
agency or force in Nietzsche corresponds to Freud's "cultural
super-ego"?
- Who
are the "normal people" for Freud? Who are they in
Nietzsche?
- Nietzsche
apparently regards the "bird of prey" and the "lamb"
as two different species of humanity? Does Freud agree?
RETURN
TO ESSAY ONE
|
 Accountability
& Free Agency II
Linked from Essay
I, Section 13: "[These]
emotions... in fact maintain no belief more ardently than the
belief that the strong man is free to be a lamb...." |
...while nature alone activates everything in the
operations of a beast, man participates in his own actions in
the capacity of a free agent."
From Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, p. 87
Reader's
Question
- Nietzsche
seems to refute one of Rousseau's most central arguments. Explain
the difference in their positions in one or two sentences.
RETURN
TO ESSAY ONE |
|
'Blessed are the poor in
spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'
'Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted.'
'Blessed are the meek: for
they shall inherit the earth.'"
From The Gospel According to
Matthew. 2nd Ed. Richmond: University of Richmond Core Course:
p. 6.
Reader's Questions
- In this section of Essay
I, which values inherent in Jesus' "Beatitudes" does
Nietzsche invert?
- How do the Beatitudes and
the other teachings in Matthew's gospel make "the bird of
prey accountable for being a bird of prey"?
- Where, in Matthew's Gospel,
does Jesus speak out against anger? Compare these sections to
what Nietzsche states about and anger of ressentiment
and the anger of nobles in Essay I.
RETURN
TO ESSAY ONE |