Beyond Good and Evil by Frederich Nietzsche. A user’s guide.
Part 1 of 10 : Introduction for 2020
Nostalgia is not what it used to be and neither is morality. In this classic book, Nietzsche talks about our inner-ways ways of thinking, feeling and living. He reviews human civilisation from a psychological perspective. Showing how modern european morality is a weak imitation of medieval christianity [before Descartes in 1645] and totally unlike the pre-Christian ‘eye-for-an-eye’ morality of the Old Testament and the festive violence of the Circus for which the Ancient Romans are known.
Nietzsche unveils the turbulent world of values and sentiments over the last 3,000 years. If human nature remained the same during this time, then how can it be that what the Romans did in the name of fun and entertainment is to us horrifying, sadistic and reprehensible. King Herod of Judea disgusts us; the ‘massacre of the innocents’ is an outrage. Morality wavers yet we cannot waver; we must use the same sign language of the emotions which carries us from cradle to grave. What is going on here?
Nietzsche’s insight is that morality is not a way of thinking. But a way of life, a way of living, a way of being. Our recognition of it comes always after it has been established & practised. Christianity took hundreds of years to become recognised at the first council of Nicaea in 325AD. Even then, it was only with Thomas Aquinas that we would recognise official Christian thinking today — he was writing in the 1200s.
So much for the 1200s, what about today? Isn’t morality over ? No, we’re still hung-up about it. An academic coined the term ‘Moral Panic’ in 1967. Facts are still never allowed to get in the way of moral outrage in the press. ‘Outrage fatigue’ is even spoken of. There is no end to it. But however tempting it is, being flippant or cynical about morality is a mistake. Without it we’re lost, we hang on to it and kick against it, as we move through life. Those who come after us will get an updated version but we’re stuck with ours. It is however, OK to ask where it might be going.
People are turning away from mainstream media that is true but this may be temporary. Are we going back to pre-Christian times where morality is concerned? Does the rise of the Billionaire class and strongman political leaders indicate a return to might being right. Are the social justice warriors & feminists trying to turn the tables on these strong men to achieve political power on the altar of equality.
Is this Nietzsche’s political drama playing itself out? Does not the aristocratic and the plebeian run right through many of us too ? Do we not see an Opera and then go across the road afterwards to McDonalds? Or order an expensive steak only to drown it in ketchup?, live in an upscale neighbourhood and yet brag to our friends about shopping at Lidl instead of Waitrose.
Nietzsche’s psycho-drama is about us — it is not about the newspapers. We are a bubbling mixture of opposing emotions. To pretend that we behave consistently or rationally is almost insane — but that is what we do. The only way to make sense of this is to trying going back to the original source — where it all started — and that is what Nietzsche does.
Using historical texts as evidence, Nietzsche shows that the original source of moral evaluation was the high and mighty; those who saw and judged themselves and their actions as good. In contrast to everything lowly, common and plebeian. It was from this pathos of distance that they first claimed the right to create values and give these values names: usefulness was none of their concern.
The pathos of nobility and distance, the continuing and predominant feeling of complete and fundamental superiority of a higher ruling kind looking down on a lower kind, to those ‘below’ — that is the origin of the antithesis ‘good’ and ‘bad’.
This natural origin has been forgotten. The judgment ‘good’ never came from people being nice or useful to each other. It was the superior, the better ones, ‘the good’ amongst themselves knowing what they liked best. If our leaders decide that electric cars or smartphones are the future then anyone who thinks otherwise is an obstacle to progress.
We forgot something important; superior, powerful, creative people define themselves by what they are for. Ordinary people tend to define themselves by what they are against — common people are always complaining about one thing or another. ‘Good’ is good in itself whereas bad is bad in relation to good. The powerful alone decide what is good, worthy, valuable and true.
Today’s snowflake morality papers-over this truth. Nietzsche says that modern morality conceals its noble origins and makes the present live at the expense of the future. With ever more compassion, creature comforts and niceness, people are weakened. Eventually, we will be saying to ourselves when challenged; “Anything for a quiet life; even death”. Modern morality is decadent and has created a ‘sick animal’ according to Nietzsche. He worries about Europe at the time he was writing. [For more on this jump to page 44].
Convulsions in morality concern Nietzsche — when things get turned upside down — the transvaluation of values he calls it. There are moments in the text where he reveals his own sense of alarm at what he is discovering about human origins and development, especially the perverse nature of the human animal, the being he calls ‘the sick animal’ (GM, III, 14). Although the Genealogy is one of the darkest books ever written, it is also, paradoxically, a book full of hope and anticipation.
Nietzsche’s view is based on Greek and Roman ethics, rhetoric and literature. Immersed in the classical world, he sees Christianity overcoming Rome as it used to be. Nietzsche could read, write and think in ancient greek, latin and Hebrew. To criticise his arguments you would first have to challenge his interpretation of the historical sources.
Modern scholars shy away. Describing being “fearful” or “unnerved” by his writing. Preferring to tip-toe around truths being laid bare rather than confronting them and perhaps being the better for it. But ‘self-improvement’ is not to everyone’s taste, certainly not academics who see themselves as today’s exclusive arbiters of taste and morality. To them, Friedrich is that eccentric hermit from the19th century. Why Beyond Good and Evil is not the basis of a modern Religious Studies courses is odd. Nietzsche regarded religion, in some form, for most people, as indispensable.
“Many educated people think that the victory of Christianity over Greek & Roman philosophy is a proof of the superior truth of the former — although in this case it was only the coarser and more violent that conquered the more spiritual and delicate.”from Nietzsche’s Human, all too Human, s.68, R.J. Hollingdale transl.
In ten bite-size segments, I have simplified and abridged the book and encourage people to read key parts of the original text for themselves. Nietzsche’s aphorisms are perplexing. But with preparatory context notes and guidance notes I believe it is possible to gain an understanding; it is very easy to think you have understood Nietzsche when you have only scratched the surface. If your mind hurts while reading Nietzsche don’t worry — this is normal.
