On the genealogy of morals
On the genealogy of morals. A pamphlet is a philosophical work by Friedrich Nietzsche from 1887.
The work, which consists of a preface and three “treatises”, is one of Nietzsche's most influential writings. He did not present aphorisms here , as in most of his other works, but rather longer, systematic texts with a thoroughly scientific claim: in them he sets out sociological , historical and psychological theses. Unlike classical moral philosophers, Nietzsche did not want to derive or justify morality, but rather to understand the historical development and the psychological requirements of certain moral values. So he does not ask how people should act, but why people (individuals or groups) believe they should act in a certain way, or want to get others to act one way or another.
The contrast between a “ slave morality ” and a “ master morality ” from the first treatise has become quite well known, at least with a few keywords. The third treatise, in which Nietzsche subjects the ascetic ideals to a detailed criticism, is fundamental for an understanding of all of his late writings .
The Genealogy influenced many thinkers, including Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault . It was a much-discussed work, especially in the French reception of Nietzsche in the second half of the 20th century.
The usual seal of the font is GM .
content
The genealogy of morals consists of a preface and three treatises, the third of which is the longest.
preface
In the first seven sections of the preface Nietzsche explains the motivation for his work:
"Let us express it, this new demand : we need a criticism of moral values, the value of these values itself must first be questioned - and for this we need a knowledge of the conditions and circumstances out of which they have grown, under which they have developed and shifted (morality as a consequence, as a symptom, as a mask, as a tartifery , as a disease, as a misunderstanding; but also morality as a cause, as a remedy, as a stimulant, as an inhibition, as a poison), like such knowledge neither was there until now, has only been coveted. "
He refers to some of his earlier works - as in the rest of the work even more frequently - and criticizes Paul Rées The Origin of Moral Sensations (1877). Rée and his ilk are far too biased towards modern, utilitarian and altruistic morals to understand the genealogy of moral values.
In the eighth and last section of the preface Nietzsche addresses the problem of the comprehensibility of his writings and calls for careful reading, an “art of interpretation”. As an example, he put an aphorism in front of the third treatise, and the treatise itself is its slow, systematic interpretation.
First treatise: "Good and Bad", "Good and Bad".
Here Nietzsche explains the difference between a master's and a slave's morality , which Nietzsche has suggested since Human, All Too Human (No. 45). A pair of opposites corresponds to each of these different types of morality:
- According to Nietzsche, privileged social classes defined their own actions as “good”; “Good” in the meaning of “noble”, “noble”, “powerful”, “happy” etc. In contrast, these “gentlemen” value the actions of other, lower people as “bad” in the sense of “simple”, “( all) mean ”,“ unpleasant ”without making them a reproach.
- Conversely, the valuation of the underprivileged, the lowly, the poor, the sick, the “slaves” proceeds: Their feelings are based on resentment , they first assess the others as the “bad guys”, the “bad enemy”. Only then do they define themselves as the “good guys” as opposed to the bad guys - that is, they are “good” because they are not “bad”, their concept of “good” is reactive instead of active as with the noble and is based on a value reversal.
Nietzsche sees the second type of valuation in Judaism and Christianity , the first he assigns the Roman Empire , but also the Renaissance and Napoléon . To be sure, the opposition between these types of morality would still be fought out in individual, conflicted people; In the higher and more spiritual natures both kinds of appreciation are present today and are in conflict with one another. On the whole, however, the slave morality was victorious. Nietzsche himself expresses several times - albeit not without reservations and differentiations - his much stronger sympathy for the "noble" worldview and seems to hope that thanks to his philosophy it can resume the fight against the "rabble" morality.
Second Treatise: "Guilt," "Bad Conscience," and Related Items.
In this, Nietzsche examines the origin of the idea that humans can take “responsibility” for something, and human memory in general, which is unusual in the animal kingdom. He sees the moral concept of “guilt” as being based on the material concept of “debt” against a believer. He suggests the multiple ostensible and real purposes that punishment has played in the history of diverse cultures. Like all facts, it was always subject to new interpretations under new power constellations. According to Nietzsche, the guilty conscience has its origin in the civilization of man, who, under the pressure of living in an organized society, directs his aggressive drive inwards and against himself.
Section 12 of this treatise stands out somewhat, as Nietzsche here goes into comparatively in detail his doctrine of the “ will to power ”.
Third treatise: what do ascetic ideals mean?
This treatise has a formal peculiarity, as Nietzsche pointed out in the preface: in the first section he presents his results in a concise, aphoristic form, and then - after the protests of a fictional reader - give a more precise derivation and elaboration of them in the actual treatise .
Nietzsche examines the different forms in which ascetic ideals have appeared in history and occur today, as well as their diverse (supposed and actual) purposes. He interprets and evaluates the pursuit of such ideals among artists - Richard Wagner's Parsifal as an example -, philosophers - especially Schopenhauer's denial of will - with priests, among those who, according to their own assessment, are “good and just”, with saints and finally with modern supposed counter-idealists , Atheists, scientists and critical, anti-metaphysical philosophers. Their unconditional “will to truth” is the final, subtle form of the ascetic ideal. After considering current and future nihilism in Europe, Nietzsche gives one final reason why the ascetic ideal has been almost the only one honored so far: namely, simply in the absence of a better ideal. Man could not “not want”, and so until now he had preferred to “want nothing” in nihilism and asceticism.
All three treatises end with the prospect of a new moral, for which Nietzsche refers to his Zarathustra . However, in the opinion of all recipients, this new morality is not as clearly recognizable as Nietzsche's criticism of the previous “morals”.
Origin and classification in Nietzsche's writings
With Beyond Good and Evil and the changed new editions of earlier writings printed in 1886/87, Nietzsche had actually considered his work to be temporarily completed and wanted to take time to think through new topics. In the summer of 1887 he was in a very depressed mood and then quite suddenly (between July 10th and 30th) wrote the three papers on genealogy , although he went back to earlier records. He had it printed at his own expense by the publisher C. G. Naumann in Leipzig and read corrections together with Heinrich Köselitz , with a few changes being made. The book was published in November 1887 with an edition of 600 copies.
Nietzsche attached great importance to the fact that the book should be "confusingly similar" to the previous Beyond of Good and Evil . The first print contained the note on the back of the title page “The last published“ Beyond Good and Evil ”was added to supplement and clarify.” Nietzsche had already hoped from Jenseits to find new readers and also sent copies of the genealogy to several culturally influential people Send people. The many references to earlier writings should also serve as advertising; Nietzsche himself called his writings from Beyond Good and Evil "fish hooks".
The work became significant to him again the following year when he abandoned his plan to write The Will to Power . It is believed that re-reading the genealogy led or strengthened him. His late work The Antichrist , which was to a certain extent a substitute for the will to power , is stylistically very similar to genealogy and also refers to it in terms of content.
Regarding Nietzsche's criticism of Paul Rée's origin of moral sentiments in the preface, it should be noted that Rée and Nietzsche were close friends in the late 1870s and that many, including the two themselves, saw the aforementioned work of Rée and Nietzsche's Human, All-To-Human as closely related . The friendship with Rée was broken in 1882.
Impact history
The work exerted a strong influence on Sigmund Freud , who wrote The Uneasiness in Culture from the thought of the resumption of conscience because of the atrocities . Also inspired Nietzsche's Genealogy Max Scheler on to Resentment in the construction of moralities to write.
Genealogy is considered to be the pioneer of postmodern philosophy . Michel Foucault's work, for example, is pervaded by references to the genealogy of morals . For the French postmodern thinkers, the more recent work The Subtle Differences by Pierre Bourdieu can also be traced back to ideas from the genealogy of morals . Here, the core idea is based on the moral resentment of the gentleman, namely to delimit the bad from the good through fine differences on many levels of life.
See also
literature
expenditure
See Nietzsche edition for general information.
- In the by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari founded Critical Edition is morality the Genealogy found in
- Division VI, Volume 2 (along with Beyond Good and Evil ). ISBN 978-3-11-005175-9 . A follow-up report , i.e. H. critical apparatus, is still missing for this volume.
- The same text is provided by the critical study edition in volume 5 (together with Beyond Good and Evil and with an afterword by Giorgio Colli). This is also published as a single volume under ISBN 978-3-423-30155-8 . The associated apparatus can be found in the commentary volume (KSA 14), pp. 377–382.
- The current edition by Reclam , ISBN 978-3-15-007123-6, is also based on this edition . It contains an afterword by Volker Gerhardt .
Secondary literature
All major monographs on Nietzsche also deal with the genealogy of morals , so see the list of literature in the article "Friedrich Nietzsche" . For a detailed bibliography see web links .
- Lars Niehaus: The Problem of Morality: On the Relationship between Criticism and Historical Consideration in Nietzsche's Late Work. Königshausen u. Neumann, Würzburg 2009. ISBN 978-3826041327 .
- Richard Schacht (Ed.): Nietzsche, Genealogy, Morality. Essays on Nietzsche's “On the Genealogy of Morals”. University of California Press, Berkeley 1994, ISBN 978-0-520-08318-9 .
- Andreas Urs Sommer : Commentary on Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals (= Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (Hg.): Historical and Critical Commentary on Friedrich Nietzsche's Works, Vol. 5/2). XVII + 723 pages. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2019 (978-3-11-029308-1, Ebook: ISBN 978-3-11-038892-3 ) (comprehensive commentary that processes the research history in as much detail as the argumentative structure of the text and the numerous intertextual references).
- Werner Stegmaier : Nietzsche's ›Genealogy of Morals‹. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 978-3-534-10410-9 .
Web links
- Nietzsche Source , Colli / Montinari edition (full text)
- Literature on Zur Genealogie der Moral , directory of the Weimar Nietzsche bibliography
