Editing Friedrich Nietzsche (section)

=== Slave revolt in morals ===
{{Main|Master–slave morality}}

In ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'' and ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]'', Nietzsche's [[Genealogy (philosophy)|genealogical]] account of the development of modern moral systems occupies a central place. For Nietzsche, a fundamental shift took place during the human history from thinking in terms of "good and bad" toward "good and evil".

The initial form of morality was set by a warrior [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]] and other ruling castes of ancient civilisations. Aristocratic values of good and bad coincided with and reflected their relationship to lower [[caste]]s such as slaves. Nietzsche presented this "master morality" as the original system of morality—perhaps best associated with [[Homer]]ic Greece.<ref name="LacewingSlave">{{Cite web |last1=Nietzsche |first1=Friedrich |last2=Lacewing |first2=Michael |title=Nietzsche on master and slave morality |url=http://documents.routledge-interactive.s3.amazonaws.com/9781138793934/A2/Nietzsche/NietzscheMasterSlave.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510060210/http://documents.routledge-interactive.s3.amazonaws.com/9781138793934/A2/Nietzsche/NietzscheMasterSlave.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2016 |access-date=29 September 2019 |website=Amazon Online Web Services |publisher=[[Routledge]], Taylor & Francis Group}}</ref> To be "good" was to be happy and to have the things related to happiness: wealth, strength, health, power, etc. To be "bad" was to be like the slaves over whom the aristocracy ruled: poor, weak, sick, pathetic—objects of pity or disgust rather than hatred.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nietzsche, "Master and Slave Morality" |url=https://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/notes-nietzsche.html#1. |access-date=28 September 2019 |website=philosophy.lander.edu}}</ref>

"Slave morality" developed as a reaction to master morality. Value emerges from the contrast between good and evil: good being associated with other-worldliness, charity, piety, restraint, meekness, and submission; while evil is worldly, cruel, selfish, wealthy, and aggressive. Nietzsche saw slave morality as pessimistic and fearful, its values emerging to improve the self-perception of slaves. He associated slave morality with the Jewish and Christian traditions, as it is born out of the ''[[ressentiment]]'' of slaves. Nietzsche argued that the idea of equality allowed slaves to overcome their own conditions without despising themselves. By denying the inherent inequality of people—in success, strength, beauty, and intelligence—slaves acquired a method of escape, namely by generating new values on the basis of rejecting master morality, which frustrated them. It was used to overcome the slave's sense of inferiority before their (better-off) masters. It does so by depicting slave weakness, for example, as a matter of choice, by relabelling it as "meekness". The "good man" of master morality is precisely the "evil man" of slave morality, while the "bad man" is recast as the "good man".<ref name="LacewingSlave" />

Nietzsche saw slave morality as a source of the nihilism that has overtaken Europe. Modern Europe and Christianity exist in a hypocritical state due to a tension between master and slave morality, both contradictory values determining, to varying degrees, the values of most Europeans (who are "[[motley]]"). Nietzsche called for exceptional people not to be ashamed in the face of a supposed morality-for-all, which he deems to be harmful to the flourishing of exceptional people. He cautioned, however, that morality, per se, is not bad; it is good for the masses and should be left to them. Exceptional people, in contrast, should follow their own "inner law".<ref name="LacewingSlave" /> A favourite motto of Nietzsche, taken from [[Pindar]], reads: "Become what you are."<ref name="KYLook">{{Cite web |last=Look |first=Brandon |title='Becoming Who One Is' in Spinoza and Nietzsche |url=http://www.uky.edu/~look/essays/Spinoza&Nietzsche.pdf |access-date=28 September 2019 |website=uky.edu |publisher=[[University of Kentucky]]}}</ref>

A long-standing assumption about Nietzsche is that he preferred master over slave morality. However, eminent Nietzsche scholar [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] rejected this interpretation, writing that Nietzsche's analyses of these two types of morality were used only in a [[descriptive ethics|descriptive]] and historic sense; they were not meant for any kind of acceptance or glorification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Walter Arnold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wvKRUSdUsnkC&q=Master+slave+morality&pg=PA213 |title=From Shakespeare to existentialism |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-691-01367-1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> On the other hand, Nietzsche called master morality "a higher order of values, the noble ones, those that say Yes to life, those that guarantee the future".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |title=Ecce Homo |year=1908 |page=Chapter on The Case of Wagner, section 2}}</ref> Just as "there is an order of rank between man and man", there is also an order of rank "between morality and morality".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |title=Beyond Good and Evil |year=1886 |page=Section 228}}</ref> Nietzsche waged a philosophic war against the slave morality of Christianity in his "revaluation of all values" to bring about the victory of a new master morality that he called the "philosophy of the future" (''Beyond Good and Evil'' is subtitled ''Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bowman |first=William |title=Friedrich Nietzsche: Herald of a New Era |publisher=Hazar Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-9975703-0-4 |pages=31–38, 60–106}}</ref>

In ''[[The Dawn (book)|Daybreak]]'', Nietzsche began his "Campaign against Morality".{{sfn|Kaufmann|1974|p=187}}{{sfn|Nietzsche|1888d|loc=M I}} He called himself an "immoralist" and harshly criticised the prominent moral philosophies of his day: Christianity, [[Kantianism]], and [[utilitarianism]]. Nietzsche's concept "[[God is dead]]" applies to the doctrines of [[Christendom]], though not to all other faiths: he claimed that [[Buddhism]] is a successful religion that he complimented for fostering critical thought.{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=26}} Still, Nietzsche saw his philosophy as a counter-movement to nihilism through appreciation of art:

{{blockquote|text=Art as the single superior counterforce against all will to negation of life, art as the anti-Christian, anti-Buddhist, anti-Nihilist par excellence.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Art in Nietzsche's philosophy |url=http://jorbon.tripod.com/niet01.html |website=jorbon.tripod.com}}</ref>|sign=|source=}}

Nietzsche claimed that the Christian faith as practised was not a proper representation of Jesus' teachings, as it forced people merely to believe in the way of Jesus but not to act as Jesus did; in particular, his example of refusing to judge people, something that Christians constantly did.{{Sfn |Sedgwick |2009 |p=26}} He condemned institutionalised Christianity for emphasising a morality of [[pity]] (''Mitleid''), which assumes an inherent illness in society:{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=27}}
{{blockquote|text=Christianity is called the religion of ''pity''. Pity stands opposed to the tonic emotions which heighten our vitality: it has a depressing effect. We are deprived of strength when we feel pity. That loss of strength in which suffering as such inflicts on life is still further increased and multiplied by pity. Pity makes suffering contagious.<ref>''The Antichrist'', section 7. transl. Walter Kaufmann, in ''The Portable Nietzsche'', 1977, pp. 572–573.</ref>}}

In ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'' Nietzsche called the establishment of moral systems based on a dichotomy of [[good and evil]] a "calamitous error",{{Sfn |Nietzsche |1888d |loc=Why I Am a Destiny, §&nbsp;3}} and wished to initiate a [[transvaluation of values|re-evaluation]] of the [[Value (ethics)|values]] of the Christian world.{{sfn|Nietzsche|1888c|pp=4, 8, 18, 29, 37, 40, 51, 57, 59}} He indicated his desire to bring about a new, more naturalistic source of value in the vital impulses of life itself.

While Nietzsche attacked the principles of Judaism, he was not [[antisemitic]]: in his work ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]'', he explicitly condemned antisemitism and pointed out that his attack on Judaism was not an attack on contemporary Jewish people but specifically an attack upon the ancient Jewish priesthood who he claimed [[antisemitic Christians]] paradoxically based their views upon.{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=69}} An Israeli historian who performed a statistical analysis of everything Nietzsche wrote about Jews claims that cross-references and context make clear that 85% of the negative comments are attacks on Christian doctrine or, sarcastically, on Richard Wagner.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Nietzsche felt that modern antisemitism was "despicable" and contrary to European ideals.{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=68}} Its cause, in his opinion, was the growth in European nationalism and the endemic "jealousy and hatred" of Jewish success.{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=68}} He wrote that Jews should be thanked for helping uphold a respect for the philosophies of ancient Greece,{{sfn|Sedgwick|2009|p=68}} and for giving rise to "the noblest human being (Christ), the purest philosopher ([[Baruch Spinoza]]), the mightiest book, and the most effective moral code in the world".<ref name="Nebraska">{{Cite book |last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |title=[[Human, All Too Human]]: A Book for Free Spirits |date=1986 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |page=231 |orig-date=1878}}</ref>