Running head: What is Slave Morality?
The Moral Philosophy of Nietzsche
George Michael Olivas
American Military University
Professor Wack
PHIL416 Modern & Post-modern Philosophy
June 24th, 2013
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What is Slave Morality?
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The Moral Philosophy of Nietzsche
Nietzsche may very well be the most influential philosopher for our 21st
century—single-handedly prognosticating humanity without the morals of the church in
his classical parable of the Madman.
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort
ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all
that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe
this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of
atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this
deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear
worthy of it? (The Gay Science, Sections 108, 125 and 343)”
Nietzsche was not interested in systematic morality, he was concerned with freeing
humanity from the concept that anything good could actually come about from a moral
life—the herd mentality (Ridley. 2001) This insensitive message is aimed at breaking the
conscientious ideal that morality is good for an individual. Nietzsche then criticizes
respectively and does not seek to transform society at the macro scale. Naturally,
Nietzsche was not critical of all forms of morality—he was certainly not a nihilist.
Nietzsche was only a lad, merely four years old when his father passed away. He
was born in a small town near Leipzig, Germany in 1844. He was the son of a Lutheran
minister and as such he was no stranger to Christianity. Nietzsche was the student of
theology and philology in the University of Bonn and transferred a bit later to Basel
during the vacancy for the position in classical philology (Wicks, 2013). Despite his lack
of a doctorate degree and any sort of dissertation, his recommendation by Ritschl would
What is Slave Morality?
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be enough to land Nietzsche into an instructor position at the university. He remained
teaching in Basel for the next ten years.
Nietzschean ethics can be classified in two contrasting abstractions (or persona
rather), slave morality and master morality (Williams, 2001). These categories mirror the
cultural dichotomy of the latter centuries. A slave does as his master petitions and the
only independent men of this society were the masters themselves. Slavery, however
obsolete, is hitherto extant in human cognition. Thus as much as slavery is a thing of the
past, the moral system of slaves and masters is very much alive today. What exactly is
Nietzsche referring to here? Well masters are free men and they do as they please.
Morality in the context of a master is exactly that of what a person in his position would
normally desire. A master seeks control over his slaves, for the wealth and honor that
comes with the ability to do so, and generally every trait that is worthy of being called a
master—courage, pride, control to name a few more. Things of a bad nature for a master
would be poverty. Poverty however in of itself is not a bad thing; it is only bad because it
isn’t wealth and thus poverty is not fulfilling of what it means to employ a master
morality. What about slaves? How can a slave think for himself and be concerned with
morality since a slave merely exists to serve his master? A Slave does his master's
bidding and as a result he may come to grow an inevitable contempt under his control.
This contempt is so illicit that he will come to hate everything his master stands for and
those characteristic traits which we covered a few examples earlier. Regard the
following: a slave realizes his master and everything he values is evil and therefore the
slave sees evil as the opposition of goodness and thus he reasons to be the opposite of
What is Slave Morality?
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what his master is. The slave then reaches the sentiment that good morality lies in being
humble, subservient, and always willing.
Nietzsche observes this 'master and slave' morality in virtually every single
circumstance manageable in the sociological level (Williams, 2001). If a man follows
Christianity then he is a slave of the religious movement. If a man follows Aristocracy
then he is a slave of that political party. Master morality is achievable only when a person
thinks for himself and not by the agenda of any other system or moral judgment of a man.
Master morality is superior, says Nietzsche, thus we ought to separate from all religious,
political, and cultural affiliations before we ever begin to call ourselves anything less than
a slave.
What is Slave Morality?
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References
Ridley, A. (2001). Nietzsche's ethics and his war on 'morality'. Philosophy,
76(297), 464-468. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/231357663?accountid=8289
The Gay Science, with a Prelude of Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. tr. Walter
Kaufmann. New York: Random House, 1974.
Wicks, Robert, "Friedrich Nietzsche", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring
2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/nietzsche/>.
Williams, R. R. (2001). Hegel and nietzsche: Recognition and master/slave.
Philosophy Today, 45, 164-179. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/205384470?accountid=8289