What if morality is just a fiction
used by the herd of inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men?
In this Sprouts special with Stephen Hicks, we examine
Nietzsche’s explanation for how ethics develop
and the consequences for master types living in a world that’s dominated by the morality of a slave.
PART 3 “MASTER-SLAVE MORALITY and the origin of the bad conscience
Nietzsche argued that there are two explanations for how morality develops.
Part of the story is bio-psychological — in terms of what morality resonates with
what psychological type of person one is. The other part of the story is cultural, because
different moral codes develop under different survival circumstances, and so Nietzsche searches
history for the survival circumstances that necessitated the development of slave morality
In the West, Nietzsche finds the slave morality’s roots in the Judeo-Christian
tradition–In a decisive set of events that occurred early in Jewish history–the
enslavement of the jews in Egypt. The significant result of the Jews’ being enslaved
for a long time was the development and internalization of a moral code
suitable for surviving slavery.
Suppose that you are a slave: how do you survive? And if you have children who are
born into slavery, what survival strategies will you teach them? In order to survive, a slave must
obey the master. This does not come naturally. So the first lesson is: you must stifle your nature.
Suppose the master strikes you — the desire
for revenge comes naturally — but you have to stifle it.
Suppose the master tells you to wait — being inactive does
not come naturally — but you must suppress your desire for activity.
Suppose the master tells you to do something you do not
want to do — you must override your desire to do what you want and obey.
Generalizing, you must train yourself to restrain your natural impulses and to internalize a humble,
patient, obedient self. You know you must do this because slaves who do not end up dead.
Consequently, Nietzsche asserts, slave virtues have survival value: obedience, humility,
forgiveness, and patience are good for slaves. And those are the traits slaves will drill into
Their children if they want them to survive. Over time, the slave virtues become cultural values.
In every generation many people are sheep-like and do not especially mind being slaves.
But others resent it, and here the story Nietzsche tells becomes darker.
In order to survive they must direct their natural strength and assertiveness
against the expression of their own strength and assertiveness.
This naturally leads them to resent the master strongly—but they also start to hate
themselves for doing what the master says and for their own role in suppressing themselves.
Psychologically, hating oneself causes unbearable pressure inside: because the outward discharge of
the instinct gets inhibited and turns backward against man himself. Hostility, cruelty,
joy in destruction — all this turned against the possessors of such instincts:
that is the origin of the ‘bad conscience'
Hatred of the strong, self-hatred, and revenge fantasies to ease the pain
become the lived psychological reality of such slaves. Make this psychological
reality a matter of months and years, and the results will be ugly and poisonous.
More provocatively, Nietzsche argues that such slave individuals who feel the internal war most
strongly become the social leaders of the slaves — that is to say, they become their priests.
“It is because of their impotence that in them hatred grows to monstrous proportions.
In their leadership role, it is the priests who most strongly advocate meekness, humility,
and obedience —and who condemn the aggressive strength and pride of the masters.
The priests are not in a position to use physical power against the masters.
Instead the priests develop and use morality as their weapon of confrontation.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, slave morality becomes part of a revenge strategy. Its
point is to enable the weaker to survive in a harsh world—but
also to undermine the master type's confidence in themselves and eventually
bring down the masters so as to exact a spiritual revenge.
So: Strength, aggression, weakness,
resentment. Is morality really about us getting along together in the world?
Or is it really a tool of power, a survival strategy, and a way for the losers to strike
back against the successful? Those are the hard questions Nietzsche makes us live with.
THE END
What are your thoughts on morality? Do you agree with Nietzsche?
For more information, to reach Stephen Hicks’s full account of the German philosopher
or to download this video without background music, check the descriptions below.