2) What, according to Nietzsche, is wrong with Christian/slave morality? Make sure that your account of slave morality draws from each of the three essays in the Genealogy. Are there any arguments from within Nietzsche’s own text that might place slave morality in a better light? Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality is a rejection and appreciation of slave morality. Nietzsche acknowledges the benefits which have stemmed from Christian slave morality, such as depth, accountability, and responsibility, but feels they are undermined by the guilt, nihilism, and ressentement it associated with them. In his writing he infers the importance of this morality as a form of enhancement of the capacities of man. However, he considers it more of an obstacle
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It remains under the guise of rewards in the afterlife but is actually a life-denying force. An ascetic existence is a sickness that portrays our suffering as a type of torment which in turn causes a nihilistic demeanor toward life. This sickness fosters the slave morality and gives meaning to the slave. Instead of aggressively directing their ressentement outward they focus it inward with guidance from the ascetic priest. The problem with this ascetic ideal is its unyielding interpretation of what it considers true. This ideal from slave morality hinders one’s own understanding because it does not request justification of a truth. Nietzsche states, “The will to truth is in need of a critique ... the value of truth is for once be experimentally called into question” (3:24:110) He sees the ascetic ideals as a disconnect of our will from reason and refers to it as a “castration of intellect” (3:12:85). Once again, one can see the disconnect Nietzsche articulates lies in the faults of man and not of asceticism alone. Man would “rather will nothingness” than not will at all which is what the ascetic ideal allows of humankind’s current situation. Will is saved through an abstemious life but is underdeveloped; the struggle can be overcome through the forces which created the condition. In other words, Christian slave morality has not only caused a nihilistic, life refuting circumstance, but also has given man the tools to escape
It remains under the guise of rewards in the afterlife but is actually a life-denying force. An ascetic existence is a sickness that portrays our suffering as a type of torment which in turn causes a nihilistic demeanor toward life. This sickness fosters the slave morality and gives meaning to the slave. Instead of aggressively directing their ressentement outward they focus it inward with guidance from the ascetic priest. The problem with this ascetic ideal is its unyielding interpretation of what it considers true. This ideal from slave morality hinders one’s own understanding because it does not request justification of a truth. Nietzsche states, “The will to truth is in need of a critique ... the value of truth is for once be experimentally called into question” (3:24:110) He sees the ascetic ideals as a disconnect of our will from reason and refers to it as a “castration of intellect” (3:12:85). Once again, one can see the disconnect Nietzsche articulates lies in the faults of man and not of asceticism alone. Man would “rather will nothingness” than not will at all which is what the ascetic ideal allows of humankind’s current situation. Will is saved through an abstemious life but is underdeveloped; the struggle can be overcome through the forces which created the condition. In other words, Christian slave morality has not only caused a nihilistic, life refuting circumstance, but also has given man the tools to escape