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Single Idea 14817

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / c. Motivation for virtue ]

Full Idea

We call 'good' the man who does the moral thing as if by nature, after a long history of inheritance - that is, easily, and gladly, whatever it is. …He is called 'good' because he is good 'for' something.

Gist of Idea

The 'good' man does the moral thing as if by nature, easily and gladly, after a long inheritance

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 096)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Human, All Too Human', ed/tr. Faber,Marion [Penguin 1994], p.66

A Reaction

I am amazed at the brief and rather disrespectful remarks that Nietzsche makes about Aristotle's ethics, given how close this idea is to the ideal of Aristotle (though the latter who not emphasise 'inheritance'!).

The 55 ideas from 'Human, All Too Human'

20103 You are mastered by your own virtues, but you must master them, and turn them into tools [Nietzsche]
20111 We could live more naturally, relishing the spectacle, and not thinking we are special [Nietzsche]
14807 The history of morality rests on an error called 'responsibility', which rests on an error called 'free will' [Nietzsche]
14808 Over huge periods of time human character would change endlessly [Nietzsche]
14809 All societies of good men give a priority to gratitude [Nietzsche]
14811 In Homer it is the contemptible person, not the harmful person, who is bad [Nietzsche]
14810 Originally it was the rulers who requited good for good and evil for evil who were called 'good' [Nietzsche]
20112 Pity consoles those who suffer, because they see that they still have the power to hurt [Nietzsche]
14812 Intellect is tied to morality, because it requires good memory and powerful imagination [Nietzsche]
14813 Science rejecting the teaching of Christianity in favour of Epicurus shows the superiority of the latter [Nietzsche]
14814 Execution is worse than murder, because we are using the victim, and really we are the guilty [Nietzsche]
20378 Just as skin hides the horrors of the body, vanity conceals the passions of the soul [Nietzsche]
14815 We get enormous pleasure from tales of noble actions [Nietzsche]
14816 Justice (fairness) originates among roughly equal powers (as the Melian dialogues show) [Nietzsche]
14817 The 'good' man does the moral thing as if by nature, easily and gladly, after a long inheritance [Nietzsche]
14818 First morality is force, then custom, then acceptance, then instinct, then a pleasure - and finally 'virtue' [Nietzsche]
14819 Slavery cannot be judged by our standards, because the sense of justice was then less developed [Nietzsche]
14820 People always do what they think is right, according to the degree of their intellect [Nietzsche]
14821 Apart from philosophers, most people rightly have a low estimate of pity [Nietzsche]
14822 If self-defence is moral, then so are most expressions of 'immoral' egoism [Nietzsche]
14824 It is absurd to blame nature and necessity; we should no more praise actions than we praise plants or artworks [Nietzsche]
14823 Ceasing to believe in human responsibility is bitter, if you had based the nobility of humanity on it [Nietzsche]
22473 Nietzsche said the will doesn't exist, so it can't ground moral responsibility [Nietzsche, by Foot]
14825 In religious thought nature is a complex of arbitrary acts by conscious beings [Nietzsche]
14826 Modern man wants laws of nature in order to submit to them [Nietzsche]
14827 The Greeks saw the gods not as their masters, but as idealised versions of themselves [Nietzsche]
14828 Religion is tempting if your life is boring, but you can't therefore impose it on the busy people [Nietzsche]
14830 Intuition only recognises what is possible, not what exists or is certain [Nietzsche]
14831 No one has ever done anything that was entirely for other people [Nietzsche]
14832 The Sermon on the Mount is vanity - praying to one part of oneself, and demonising the rest [Nietzsche]
14833 Comedy is a transition from fear to exuberance [Nietzsche]
14834 Teachers only gather knowledge for their pupils, and can't be serious about themselves [Nietzsche]
14835 Artists are not especially passionate, but they pretend to be [Nietzsche]
14836 People will enthusiastically pursue an unwanted war, once sacrifices have been made [Nietzsche]
14838 The state aims to protect individuals from one another [Nietzsche]
14837 Christ seems warm hearted, and suppressed intellect in favour of the intellectually weak [Nietzsche]
14839 Interest in education gains strength when we lose interest in God [Nietzsche]
14841 Many people are better at having good friends than being a good friend [Nietzsche]
14842 Why are the strong tastes of other people so contagious? [Nietzsche]
14843 Women can be friends with men, but only some physical antipathy will maintain it [Nietzsche]
14844 People do not experience boredom if they have never learned to work properly [Nietzsche]
14845 Don't crush girls with dull Gymnasium education, the way we have crushed boys! [Nietzsche]
14846 If we want the good life for the greatest number, we must let them decide on the good life [Nietzsche]
14847 Laws that are well thought out, or laws that are easy to understand? [Nietzsche]
14848 Education in large states is mediocre, like cooking in large kitchens [Nietzsche]
14849 We can only achieve happy moments, not happy eras [Nietzsche]
14850 Christ was the noblest human being [Nietzsche]
14852 Culture cannot do without passions and vices [Nietzsche]
24075 Convictions, more than lies, are the great enemy of truth [Nietzsche]
14853 Truth finds fewest champions not when it is dangerous, but when it is boring [Nietzsche]
14854 Deep thinkers know that they are always wrong [Nietzsche]
14855 Simultaneous love and respect are impossible; love has no separation or rank, but respect admits power [Nietzsche]
14856 Our judgment seems to cause our nature, but actually judgment arises from our nature [Nietzsche]
14857 The highest wisdom has the guise of simplicity [Nietzsche]
14858 Being certain presumes that there are absolute truths, and means of arriving at them [Nietzsche]