more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 4408

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch ]

Full Idea

The judgement 'good' did not first originate with those to whom goodness was shown! Rather it was the 'good' themselves, that is to say the noble, powerful, high-stationed and high-minded who established themselves and their action as good.

Gist of Idea

The concept of 'good' was created by aristocrats to describe their own actions

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (On the Genealogy of Morals [1887], I.§02)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'On the Genealogy of Morals/ Ecce Homo', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1969], p.25

A Reaction

This may be right, but not very profound. Virtually all concepts are created by the most educated classes. The first recipient of charity may not have had the concept, but they would have been gobsmacked by the novelty.

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]