Philosophy concepts and principles

Philosophy

What was Nietzsche's purpose in describing the differences between "master morality" and "slave morality"? What does he mean by the difference between "good" vs. "bad" and "good vs. "evil" and how do these distinctions affect his analysis of the origins of morality?

For Nietzsche the slave obeys, the master commands. One of the most startling aspects of Nietzsche's schema of morality is that there are different systems of morality for different people. The higher man (and for Nietzsche, the 'higher being' seems to be characterized as male) can see beyond the narrow and constructed nature of Christian doctrine, and can set his own standard of morality that harkens back to pagan days, to an elemental and visceral Dionysian morality. That is Nietzsche's purpose in describing the differences between "master morality" and "slave morality." Nietzsche is critical of any objective standards of morality that attempt to make proclamations for all time. These doctrines typically counsel people to be 'good,' to care for the sick, the weak, the helpless, and those that follow the herd. To obey one's own sense of morality and inner integrity is thus characterized as 'bad' or deviant to the prescribed morality system.

But simply because something is prohibited does not mean that God has laid down a law. All laws on earth for Nietzsche were laid down by men to fulfill a self-serving aim, usually an enslaving aim. To encourage a young man to sacrifice his life for a nation, rather than pursue his literary talents because it is good to give up his life for others, might be a 'good' example of an enslaving idea. This merely keeps the masters of the nation in charge, rather than serves a higher aim of morality for the man to 'do his duty' in the service of God, king, and country.

Nietzsche does not seem to deny the need or existence of morality at all -- just the need or existence of morality for 'some people.' Only those with a master morality can perceive the transient nature of what other citizens take for granted. Distinctions between evil and good lie ultimately within the capabilities of individuals to rise above the strictures of their society, not in terms of following a lesson plan of correctness. The ultimate evil, as opposed to the ultimate 'badness' is to deny higher humanity's potential to individually realize its aims in a state of freedom. Any attempt to create a philosophy that is eternal, and transcends time and space, and must hem in human freedom is a lie and a product of a particular individual's psyche, rather than an external reality.

Faith and feeling, even intellectual knowledge, is a product of a would-be master's physical and mental state of being, and nothing else. Thus, a person with a slave mentality will by definition produce an enslaving system of morality, which Nietzsche believes is characteristic of Christianity, which champions the weak above the strong. The more slave-like the mentality, the more the individual will fear the strong, and use morality as a tool against the strong people whom he fears.