Essays on Slave Morality

In his work “Gay Science”, Nietzsche examines the nihilism which was characterizing the contemporary Europe. Nietzsche believes that with the scientific inventions, people have lost their human and the virtues that describe Christians. This is why he says that “God is dead”; that we have killed God with our actions. His work was an explanation of fear due to the abandonment of religion. He believes that human beings have ceased to acknowledge the divinity of God, and as a result, God has abandoned us. For thousands of years, the western world has been guided by the rule of God. ...

1. Nietzsche in his work distinctly differentiated slave and master morality. During his time, and for conservative thinkers of today, there are traits that are considered noble and positive. These traits including meekness, humility, pity and other characteristics that might be universally defined as kind are to him, weak. This kind of thinking is what he refers to as slave morality because it is not assertive and people who think that way are not strong enough to become masters of their own world. He condemns the philosophy which embraces these characteristics. To him, a master morality is one that is opposite ...

In his third essay of the genealogy of morality, Nietzsche combined slave revolt, the feeling of ressentiment and the resurgence of modern reality to develop ascetic ideals. He states that “if one disregards the ascetic ideal” then human lives have no meaning. Nietzsche claims that, the ressentiment man is reluctant to permit things to build within him. The slight injuries that arise transform into a resentful hatred and he build happiness in a very long process. This man focuses on the future, thus, he is full of hope and cleverness unlike the noble man. In line with Nietzsche argument, this ...

1. According to Nietzsche, Christianity’s “slave morality” enabled it to achieve supremacy over ancient paganism. What were the fundamental values of paganism and how was Christianity able to defeat it? In his premier essay “On the Geology of Morals “, Nietzsche lays significant accusations on the nature of Christianity as a bullying religion designed only for the weak, the slaves, and the poor. Critics of this early work affirm that the circumstances under which the essay is constructed lays firm breeding grounds for violence and victimization of other forms of religion or doctrines (Fraser par. 2). Paganism was such ...

Philosophy

In his philosophy, Nietzsche appraises the origin of morality, in an attempt to recount the backgrounds of both sin as well as morals (3). Owing to the fact that basic words of ethical deeds entails several connections with nobility alongside the slavery theories; he capitalizes on the coincidence to genially sum up the difference between nobility and the slave moralities. He tailors the nobility morality on magnificence alongside the aspiration to enhance quality as opposed to inferiority, whereas the slave morality tends to proclaim ‘good’ as the absolute opposite of nobility “beauty or good.” For instance, the slave nobility ...

Chapter 9: Descartes

1. "I find here that thought is an attribute that belongs to me; it cannot be separated from me. I am, I exist, that is certain" (Descartes qtd. in Soccio 260). What does Descartes mean by this statement and why is it so important? Descartes claims that there is no ego without a thought (mind) and this ego does not exist in a thoughtless state. That is one of his most important ideas, which led to a well-known statement - “I think therefore I am”. 2. What is meant to be proven by the wax example? How does Descartes go ...

Ethics of care is referred as a normative ethical theory which aims at defining whether an action or deed is right or wrong. This normative ethical theory was researched and developed by feminists during the second half of the 20th century. Moreover, it is always centered on individuals’ interdependence implying that some communities as well as people are more vulnerable and defenseless than others (Held 9). Ethics of care theory argues that there is a moral significance on the fundamental elements of dependencies and relationships in human life. These elements may include attentiveness, responsibility, competence and responsiveness. Therefore, the theory seeks ...

According to Nietzsche, a culture forms by the language, codes, institutions, narratives, and practices that affect the morality, having two perspectives named as “noble morality” and “slave morality”. Noble morality includes pride, strength, and nobility. It is adopted by a man who has strong wills and power and thus values the actions as having good and bad results. Nietzsche differentiated between the good and bad actions and their consequences that strong willed man does (Sinhababu, pp. 262). He said that good values and actions are perceived to bring positive impacts upon a person as compare to bad actions that reflect the cowardice and ...

If you define religion as humanity’s response to the events of existence, then there could easily be as many different religions as there are people, as each individual’s response to life can differ significantly from one another’s, even in cultures that are predominantly governed by the tenets of one religious doctrine. Consider the large spectrum that simply exists under the banner of the word “Baptist.” On one end there is the extremely social conservative Westboro Baptist Church out of Kansas, which sends organized protests to military funerals and other occasions blaming most of the evils in ...

Morality is an important issue in the modern society. Lacewing (1) wrote that morality defines what is right and what is wrong with regard to our relationships as human beings. In his theme on morality, Nietzsche identified two types of morality; these are master morality and slave morality. His argument was based on the belief that in the society, morality has historical foundations and the two components have evolved and mixed up in advanced civilization. The distinction between the two classes of morality as articulated by Nietzsche is discussed below. Nietzsche referred to master morality as morality of ...