riedrich
Nietzsche, author of On the Genealogy of Morals, is one
of the most influential thinkers of the last two centuries. While
his writings received little public attention during his lifetime
(1844-1900), he was not completely off the mark when he said
of his thought "I am not a man -- I am dynamite" and
when he predicted that wars would be fought in his name. Shortly
after his death, Nietzsche's works began to be read very widely
in Europe and the Americas. Since then he has been celebrated
or condemned for the most various and incompatible reasons; for
example, some have thought of him as a prophet of individual
freedom and self-realization, while others have seen him as a
theorist who helped to make Nazism possible. Certainly it is
possible to pick out individual sentences from Nietzsche's works
which would support both interpretations, but a careful reading
will want to go beyond isolated sentences and attempt to deal
with the general tendency and arguments of his work. Nietzsche
continues to excite and provoke philosophers, social theorists,
and imaginative writers; today we may be in a better position
than our ancestors of a hundred years ago to sort out what is
valuable from what is accidental in his thought and to free ourselves
from some of the legends about this supremely provocative thinker.
ietzsche
was born into a German family with strong Protestant and Lutheran
traditions. His father was a Lutheran minister and his mother
came from a similar background. We can assume that Nietzsche,
who went through a period of youthful piety (composing prayers,
for example) had a fairly deep acquaintance with the modern Christian
world that later became the object of his biting criticism. After
his father died when Nietzsche was just five, he was brought
up by his mother and other female relatives. Young Nietzsche
attended one of the most intellectually elite secondary schools
in Germany, Schulpforta, and it was there that he showed himself
to be a precocious student of the Greek and Latin languages and
literatures; he was also something of a musician (he is probably
the only Core author whose music is available at Tower Records).
When you read the Genealogy you will see Nietzsche using
his knowledge of the ancient world in his discussion of the linguistic
and social categories that distinguish the master and the slave
(Essay I, sections 4-5) and in his praise of Greek religion for
avoiding the sense of guilt which Christianity developed and
exploited (Essay II, section 23). Nietzsche became a professor
of classics at the astoundingly young age of twenty-four; he
published a number of serious academic articles, taught Greek
literature and philosophy, and was beloved by his students, who
gave him a torchlight parade when they feared that he would be
lured away from the university by a better job offer. During
this time as a professor, Nietzsche fell under the spell of the
composer Richard Wagner for some years. His first book, The
Birth of Tragedy, presents an original theory of Greek tragedy
that owes something to this enthusiasm; where others had seen
the Greeks as a people of noble moderation, Nietzsche saw them
struggling to attain a precarious but life-affirming balance
between tendencies to aesthetic order and the chaotic life of
the instincts (the Apollinian and the Dionysian). This book was
also an answer to philosophical pessimism, exemplified by the
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer; Nietzsche thought that the tragic
world-view of the Greeks provided an example of how one could
live joyously even while recognizing the pain and suffering of
existence, but without any hope of future salvation (as in Christianity).
Important to the Genealogy is Nietzsche's conception that
such a way of life is possible, at least for some people, some
of the time; it is a misunderstanding, however, to think that
Nietzsche believed that we could simply return to the past.
n
Nietzsche's rather brief career as an author (1872-88) he wrote
an important series of books analyzing the prospects of humanity,
reflecting on religious and political history, and offering suggestions,
sometimes in a prophetic tone, for attaining a more affirmative
attitude toward life. The famous saying "God is dead"
is meant as a cultural diagnosis, suggesting that ultimate religious
commitment can no longer be the way that people organize their
lives (the phrase originates in a Lutheran hymn and Nietzsche
puts it in the mouth of a character in one of his short sketches).
He became convinced that Western culture was endangered by what
he called nihilism, the view that there is no point to human
endeavor. Even asceticism, which at least proposes the goal of
minimizing enjoyment and so involves a practice and a commitment
to institutions (like the church), offers some alternative to
nihilism (see Essay III, sections 27-28); but asceticism and
otherworldly religion carry with them the baggage of guilt and
the rejection of the value of human life in its actual earthly
and bodily setting. Nietzsche's response to nihilism takes both
a positive and negative or critical form. In his book Thus
Spoke Zarathustra, written as something of a parody of the
Bible, Nietzsche urges us to "remain true to the earth"
and to strive to create something higher and better out of ourselves.
That which is to be created is called the Übermensch
in German. This is usually translated as "superman,"
which is misleading for a number of reasons; Nietzsche's idea
has nothing to do with the comic strip figure who leaps tall
buildings at a single bound and is not even necessarily masculine
(if he had wanted to emphasize the male gender he would have
used the word Mann). The word might be translated more
faithfully as "post-human"; it also ought not to be
thought of in the terms of racism or Nazism as referring to a
specific ethnic group which is destined for political domination
(indeed, Nietzsche had nothing but scorn for the racism and anti-semitism
of the nineteenth century ancestors of the Nazis). One sense
that we get of how the post-human would see the world is that
such a person or group would value its experience in the world
so highly that it could think of no better possibility than that
everything which happens to each of us would occur continually,
in the same order, in a great cycle. This thought, which Nietzsche
called the eternal recurrence of all things, is meant as a counter-myth
to all of those philosophies and religions (such as Christianity)
which tell us that life is worthwhile only because of some goal
that lies beyond it (e.g. in the world of Platonic ideas, in
the Christian heaven, or in some future utopia on earth). This
thought could act as a litmus test for a person's level of vitality:
while some people might think there is nothing more depressing
than to live their lives over again, concentrating on all the
pains and humiliations of those lives, others would be excited
at the prospect, ready to repeat the suffering because of the
joyous times and episodes. For such people, Nietzsche thought,
the idea of eternal recurrence was the strongest possible formula
for the affirmation of life.
n
the Genealogy of Morals is part of
Nietzsche's negative and critical response to nihilism. It attempts
to show how the Western practice of morality has come about and
to show what morality actually does (promoting guilt and
resentment, for example) in contrast to what morality claims
to do. A better translation of the book's title, used in one
recent English version, is On the Genealogy of Morality.
This has the advantage of suggesting that Nietzsche is investigating
the development of a specific practice and theory of valuation
rather than examining all possible forms of the ethical life.
Anthropologists sometimes speak of the difference between a "shame
culture" and a "guilt culture." In a guilt culture,
when something goes wrong as a result of a human action, people
typically think that the person involved is to blame, and ideally
that person is expected to own up to his or her guilt and repent;
and perhaps we are all expected to realize that we are by nature
sinners (touched by "original sin"). In a shame culture,
like the Greek world as idealized by Nietzsche, when something
goes wrong it might be blamed on the gods, fate, or the forces
of nature; there may be something embarrassing or disreputable
about being the one through which these powers operate, and there
may be rituals for lifting the shame involved, but there is no
idea that humans ought to think of themselves as completely free
creatures who, knowing the good, nevertheless voluntarily descend
to sin, and then must somehow redeem themselves. A shame culture
may have an ethics or system of shared values and expectations;
but a guilt culture involves something much more specific. When
you are reading the Genealogy you should be sensitive
to some of the following: the way in which Nietzsche describes
our current moral practices as having a very diverse and complicated
background, in which reactive or resentful feelings play a surprisingly
large role (Essay I); how he thinks the phenomenon of guilt and
bad conscience arose (Essay II); and how an ascetic or life-denying
practice can actually help to maintain life in certain circumstances
(Essay III). Another notable feature of the last essay is Nietzsche's
claim that what we might think of as alternatives to the ascetic
life, such as the pursuit of science, are really disguised forms
of asceticism.
here
is no denying that the Genealogy is a challenging and
difficult book, but it can also be a very rewarding one. The
Nietzsche Hypertext provides some good exercises in close reading.
Nietzsche liked to describe himself as an "old philologist"
and careful reader and even if he were surprised by our technology,
he might approve of the spirit of the Hypertext project. Even
after careful reading, you may ultimately decide that the Genealogy's
descriptions of religion or morality are not very accurate. However,
it is worth remembering that many things have changed in one
hundred years and that Nietzsche's thought itself has often played
a considerable role in that change. This book should at least
challenge you to further define your own position about morality
and religion.
riedrich
Nietzsche, author of On the Genealogy of Morals, is one
of the most influential thinkers of the last two centuries. While
his writings received little public attention during his lifetime
(1844-1900), he was not completely off the mark when he said
of his thought "I am not a man -- I am dynamite" and
when he predicted that wars would be fought in his name. Shortly
after his death, Nietzsche's works began to be read very widely
in Europe and the Americas. Since then he has been celebrated
or condemned for the most various and incompatible reasons; for
example, some have thought of him as a prophet of individual
freedom and self-realization, while others have seen him as a
theorist who helped to make Nazism possible. Certainly it is
possible to pick out individual sentences from Nietzsche's works
which would support both interpretations, but a careful reading
will want to go beyond isolated sentences and attempt to deal
with the general tendency and arguments of his work. Nietzsche
continues to excite and provoke philosophers, social theorists,
and imaginative writers; today we may be in a better position
than our ancestors of a hundred years ago to sort out what is
valuable from what is accidental in his thought and to free ourselves
from some of the legends about this supremely provocative thinker.
ietzsche
was born into a German family with strong Protestant and Lutheran
traditions. His father was a Lutheran minister and his mother
came from a similar background. We can assume that Nietzsche,
who went through a period of youthful piety (composing prayers,
for example) had a fairly deep acquaintance with the modern Christian
world that later became the object of his biting criticism. After
his father died when Nietzsche was just five, he was brought
up by his mother and other female relatives. Young Nietzsche
attended one of the most intellectually elite secondary schools
in Germany, Schulpforta, and it was there that he showed himself
to be a precocious student of the Greek and Latin languages and
literatures; he was also something of a musician (he is probably
the only Core author whose music is available at Tower Records).
When you read the Genealogy you will see Nietzsche using
his knowledge of the ancient world in his discussion of the linguistic
and social categories that distinguish the master and the slave
(Essay I, sections 4-5) and in his praise of Greek religion for
avoiding the sense of guilt which Christianity developed and
exploited (Essay II, section 23). Nietzsche became a professor
of classics at the astoundingly young age of twenty-four; he
published a number of serious academic articles, taught Greek
literature and philosophy, and was beloved by his students, who
gave him a torchlight parade when they feared that he would be
lured away from the university by a better job offer. During
this time as a professor, Nietzsche fell under the spell of the
composer Richard Wagner for some years. His first book, The
Birth of Tragedy, presents an original theory of Greek tragedy
that owes something to this enthusiasm; where others had seen
the Greeks as a people of noble moderation, Nietzsche saw them
struggling to attain a precarious but life-affirming balance
between tendencies to aesthetic order and the chaotic life of
the instincts (the Apollinian and the Dionysian). This book was
also an answer to philosophical pessimism, exemplified by the
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer; Nietzsche thought that the tragic
world-view of the Greeks provided an example of how one could
live joyously even while recognizing the pain and suffering of
existence, but without any hope of future salvation (as in Christianity).
Important to the Genealogy is Nietzsche's conception that
such a way of life is possible, at least for some people, some
of the time; it is a misunderstanding, however, to think that
Nietzsche believed that we could simply return to the past.
n
Nietzsche's rather brief career as an author (1872-88) he wrote
an important series of books analyzing the prospects of humanity,
reflecting on religious and political history, and offering suggestions,
sometimes in a prophetic tone, for attaining a more affirmative
attitude toward life. The famous saying "God is dead"
is meant as a cultural diagnosis, suggesting that ultimate religious
commitment can no longer be the way that people organize their
lives (the phrase originates in a Lutheran hymn and Nietzsche
puts it in the mouth of a character in one of his short sketches).
He became convinced that Western culture was endangered by what
he called nihilism, the view that there is no point to human
endeavor. Even asceticism, which at least proposes the goal of
minimizing enjoyment and so involves a practice and a commitment
to institutions (like the church), offers some alternative to
nihilism (see Essay III, sections 27-28); but asceticism and
otherworldly religion carry with them the baggage of guilt and
the rejection of the value of human life in its actual earthly
and bodily setting. Nietzsche's response to nihilism takes both
a positive and negative or critical form. In his book Thus
Spoke Zarathustra, written as something of a parody of the
Bible, Nietzsche urges us to "remain true to the earth"
and to strive to create something higher and better out of ourselves.
That which is to be created is called the Übermensch
in German. This is usually translated as "superman,"
which is misleading for a number of reasons; Nietzsche's idea
has nothing to do with the comic strip figure who leaps tall
buildings at a single bound and is not even necessarily masculine
(if he had wanted to emphasize the male gender he would have
used the word Mann). The word might be translated more
faithfully as "post-human"; it also ought not to be
thought of in the terms of racism or Nazism as referring to a
specific ethnic group which is destined for political domination
(indeed, Nietzsche had nothing but scorn for the racism and anti-semitism
of the nineteenth century ancestors of the Nazis). One sense
that we get of how the post-human would see the world is that
such a person or group would value its experience in the world
so highly that it could think of no better possibility than that
everything which happens to each of us would occur continually,
in the same order, in a great cycle. This thought, which Nietzsche
called the eternal recurrence of all things, is meant as a counter-myth
to all of those philosophies and religions (such as Christianity)
which tell us that life is worthwhile only because of some goal
that lies beyond it (e.g. in the world of Platonic ideas, in
the Christian heaven, or in some future utopia on earth). This
thought could act as a litmus test for a person's level of vitality:
while some people might think there is nothing more depressing
than to live their lives over again, concentrating on all the
pains and humiliations of those lives, others would be excited
at the prospect, ready to repeat the suffering because of the
joyous times and episodes. For such people, Nietzsche thought,
the idea of eternal recurrence was the strongest possible formula
for the affirmation of life.
n
the Genealogy of Morals is part of
Nietzsche's negative and critical response to nihilism. It attempts
to show how the Western practice of morality has come about and
to show what morality actually does (promoting guilt and
resentment, for example) in contrast to what morality claims
to do. A better translation of the book's title, used in one
recent English version, is On the Genealogy of Morality.
This has the advantage of suggesting that Nietzsche is investigating
the development of a specific practice and theory of valuation
rather than examining all possible forms of the ethical life.
Anthropologists sometimes speak of the difference between a "shame
culture" and a "guilt culture." In a guilt culture,
when something goes wrong as a result of a human action, people
typically think that the person involved is to blame, and ideally
that person is expected to own up to his or her guilt and repent;
and perhaps we are all expected to realize that we are by nature
sinners (touched by "original sin"). In a shame culture,
like the Greek world as idealized by Nietzsche, when something
goes wrong it might be blamed on the gods, fate, or the forces
of nature; there may be something embarrassing or disreputable
about being the one through which these powers operate, and there
may be rituals for lifting the shame involved, but there is no
idea that humans ought to think of themselves as completely free
creatures who, knowing the good, nevertheless voluntarily descend
to sin, and then must somehow redeem themselves. A shame culture
may have an ethics or system of shared values and expectations;
but a guilt culture involves something much more specific. When
you are reading the Genealogy you should be sensitive
to some of the following: the way in which Nietzsche describes
our current moral practices as having a very diverse and complicated
background, in which reactive or resentful feelings play a surprisingly
large role (Essay I); how he thinks the phenomenon of guilt and
bad conscience arose (Essay II); and how an ascetic or life-denying
practice can actually help to maintain life in certain circumstances
(Essay III). Another notable feature of the last essay is Nietzsche's
claim that what we might think of as alternatives to the ascetic
life, such as the pursuit of science, are really disguised forms
of asceticism.
here
is no denying that the Genealogy is a challenging and
difficult book, but it can also be a very rewarding one. The
Nietzsche Hypertext provides some good exercises in close reading.
Nietzsche liked to describe himself as an "old philologist"
and careful reader and even if he were surprised by our technology,
he might approve of the spirit of the Hypertext project. Even
after careful reading, you may ultimately decide that the Genealogy's
descriptions of religion or morality are not very accurate. However,
it is worth remembering that many things have changed in one
hundred years and that Nietzsche's thought itself has often played
a considerable role in that change. This book should at least
challenge you to further define your own position about morality
and religion.