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Single Idea 14810
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch
]
Full Idea
In the soul of the original ruling clans and castes, the man who has the power to requite goodness with goodness, evil with evil, and really does practice requital by being grateful and vengeful, is called 'good'.
Gist of Idea
Originally it was the rulers who requited good for good and evil for evil who were called 'good'
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 045)
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Human, All Too Human', ed/tr. Faber,Marion [Penguin 1994], p.47
A Reaction
The idea that evil should indeed repay evil was very much a feature of goodness until the philosophers came in on the act. In those days no one else had any power, so they had no scope for goodness.
Related Ideas
Idea 5142
Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds [Aristotle]
Idea 101
Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom [Aristotle]
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[moral visionaries as the source of ethical systems]:
4115
|
Plato found that he could only enforce rational moral justification by creating an authoritarian society
[Williams,B on Plato]
|
5234
|
For the great-souled man it is sometimes better to be dead
[Aristotle]
|
23358
|
Every species produces exceptional beings, and we must just accept their nature
[Epictetus]
|
20138
|
Christianity is at war with the higher type of man, and excommunicates his basic instincts
[Nietzsche]
|
23440
|
Nietzsche's judgement of actions by psychology instead of outcome was poisonous
[Foot on Nietzsche]
|
2883
|
Noble people see themselves as the determiners of values
[Nietzsche]
|
23208
|
Caesar and Napoleon point to the future, when they pursue their task regardless of human sacrifice
[Nietzsche]
|
23193
|
Napoleon was very focused, and rightly ignored compassion
[Nietzsche]
|
20141
|
Higher human beings see and hear far more than others, and do it more thoughtfully
[Nietzsche]
|
4408
|
The concept of 'good' was created by aristocrats to describe their own actions
[Nietzsche]
|
23716
|
A strong rounded person soon forgets enemies, misfortunes, and even misdeeds
[Nietzsche]
|
14810
|
Originally it was the rulers who requited good for good and evil for evil who were called 'good'
[Nietzsche]
|
20136
|
There is an extended logic to a great man's life, achieved by a sustained will
[Nietzsche]
|
20358
|
The highest man can endure and control the greatest combination of powerful drives
[Nietzsche]
|
20369
|
The highest man directs the values of the highest natures over millenia
[Nietzsche]
|
8041
|
The superman is a monstrous oddity, not a serious idea
[MacIntyre on Nietzsche]
|
20135
|
Nietzsche's higher type of man is much more important than the idealised 'superman'
[Nietzsche, by Leiter]
|
18293
|
The noble man wants new virtues; the good man preserves what is old
[Nietzsche]
|