Nietzsches New Morality as Reaction to the Old Essay

Nietzsches New Morality as Reaction to the Old The purpose of Friedrich Nietzsches On The Genealogy of Morals (1887) is to answer the following questions, which he clearly lays out in the preface: under what conditions did man devise these value judgments good and evil? And what value do they themselves possess? Have they hitherto hindered or furthered human prosperity? Are they a sign of distress, of impoverishment, of the degeneration of life? Or is there revealed in them, on the contrary, a plenitude, force, and will of life, its courage, certainty, future? (17). These questions come about from Nietzsches rejection of the Darwinian-Spencerian-utilitarian explanation of morality, characterized by his portrayal of the†¦show more content†¦They believe that natural selection promotes altruism because it favors the existence of society and the survival of groups. With principles of selection in mind, the good thus becomes what is socially useful while the bad becomes what is harmful to society and others. Soon one f orgets why altruistic actions are good in the first place, but since this system of value is already so ingrained in ones mind, one continues acting out of altruism—what man always has done becomes what man always does. Nietzsche certainly has in mind Paul Rà ©e, Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and other English utilitarian philosophers (Mill, Bentham et al) when he speaks of the English psychologists. In fact he writes in the preface that Rà ©es book, The Origin of the Moral Sensations (1877), first gave him the impetus to publish his own origin of morality (17-18). Nietzsche refutes this genealogy of morals, however: ThisShow MoreRelatedThe Philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche Essay1003 Words   |  5 Pageshas had authority and influence in both intellect and politics around the world over. 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