Reading
Nietzsche’s explanation of the origin of Western moral code was difficult,
funny, and at times a little offensive. In all honesty, I had a knee-jerk
reaction to immediately disagree with all the thoughts that Nietzsche posits. Once
I got over that and moved a little out of my philosophic comfort zone, however,
I started to see that, while I may not agree with everything Nietzsche says, he
does have some points that are thought-provoking at the very least.
For
instance, I can’t necessarily disagree with the fact that it is a little bit
illogical that the most prevalent moral code in the Western World (that of the
Judeo-Christian tradition) not only tolerates weakness, but glorifies it!
“Blessed are the
meek, for they will inherit the earth.” – Matt. 5:5 NIV
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of their
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matt. 5:10 NIV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth
for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you
on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to
sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you
to go one mile, go with them two miles.” – Matt. 5:38-41 NIV
These (and the many, many other
examples that I didn’t include) all essentially are the exact opposite of the
morality of ancient thinkers. Look at the great epic poems we’ve already read
in Search. The Iliad, The Aeneid , The Epic of Gilgamesh. All of them glorify
the strong, powerful heroes who essentially take what they want and express
their strength to earn favor with the Gods.
My question is, though, has the world as a whole really experienced this
complete 180 degree turn? Don’t we still glorify the strong? Athletes make
millions of dollars for displaying their physical strength. Those who excel in
war aren’t looked down upon as violent savages; we give them medals and call
them heroes. The beautiful star in movies and display their looks in magazines
all over the world. On a smaller scale, we still glorify the beautiful. A study
conducted by Christian Pfeifer found a positive correlation between those who
were perceived as better looking and higher wages. So I’m sure several of us
disagreed and were a bit shocked at Nietzsche’s ideas, having been brought up
in a world that is undoubtedly heavily influenced by Judeo-Christian values, I
don’t think that we can look at the world and say that he’s completely wrong because
while we as a society to help the poor and sick, we also glorify the strong.
Perhaps what our modern societal values have come to is a Hegelian synthesis
between Jesus and Neitzsche?
Or maybe that’s a bit much, but
actually, thoughts on where you think our society falls between those two
extremes?
Here's the link to the study I referenced:
http://www.leuphana.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Forschungseinrichtungen/ifvwl/WorkingPapers/wp_201_Upload.pdf
That is interesting to point out: we definitely DO glorify strength and power and wealth and beauty while at the same time we declare generosity and selflessness and humility as "moral". I think the way that we are able to synthesize these ideas so completely in our culture is because we view the subject and the expression of qualities as utterly separate, something Nietzsche would COMPLETELY view as slavish and just...wrong. The reason we are obsessed with "strength" and the like while also seeing a sort of morality in simplicity and "weakness" is because we believe in FREE WILL--so we think that people who are actually powerful have made choices that got them there (so we admire them), and we think that those people are MORAL only when they express their strength as weakness because they have the choice to exercise their strength or not. So both our moral system AND our other systems (economic system that values wealth, political system that values power, etc) are based on the FUNDAMENTAL idea that would send Nietzsche rolling in his grave: that the LIGHTNING FLASHES and the THUNDER BOOMS. It might seem like we have some Nietzsche-an value systems, but I think when you look at WHY we value what we do, there's nothing Nietzsche-an about it...
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ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you find our society in a "Hegelian synthesis between Jesus and Nietzsche". Responding to that very broadly interpretable idea, I would say that in our society there is a healthy combination of both. There's a lot of what Jesus talked about - positive recognition of the meek, the weak, etc. I think that that occurs today because our society has progressed to a point of appreciation of the array of talents present within the people, even the people who do not fit traditionally-anticipated standards of goodness or productivity. For example, there is an appreciation for art by artists who are shy. Artistic ability makes up for lack of charisma. My point is that everyone is good at something. Beyond that, I believe that our society does traditionally exalt those who embody the most commonly distinguishing traits that define one as "favorable". For example, those who are attractive and outspoken do generally win more elections than those who are not. It's just a fact. The "Hegelian synthesis" between the appreciation for the "meek" emphasized by Jesus and the dominance of the "strong, powerful, etc" emphasized by Nietzsche is that there is a relationship in society between those who are more and less accomplished than one another. A healthy Marxian dose of competition for distinguishment into each of these roles is available within the capitalist U.S., yet there are ultimately "masters" and "slaves" (bosses and employees, teachers and students, parents and children), and we the people effectively coexist with a clear understanding of this social reality.
ReplyDeleteThe stark contrast of Nietzsche's and the Judeo-Christian tradition's values in American society. It's hard to argue that the US does not present itself as a nation with Protestant morals ("slave morality" or "weakness," as Nietzsche would say), but at the same time hold those with Nietzche's qualities of strength above others and reward them extravagantly. It makes one wonder whether we value the intelligent, rich, powerful, and beautiful or the meek, downtrodden, and poor.
ReplyDeleteBut do we really hold "Nietzche's qualities of strength above others"? If we ALL (the weak AS WELL AS the strong) value strength, doesn't that just reflect our belief that being strong is a choice? Why else would we reward strength, beauty, intelligence, etc? Actually, our valuing of such qualities just makes us even less Nietzcheian in the way we separate the "self" and the "being" completely.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your main question, I don’t think that the world has experienced this 180 degree switch to this slave morality that Neitzsche refers to. We still glorify most traits that the Jews resented. The strong are portrayed as athletic champions and our soldiers are awarded for their acts of valor instead of either of them being criticized for using their strength to triumph over others. I think that beauty has been the most glorified trait especially in modern day. Every commercial you see, doesn’t matter what the product is, there are beautiful people casted for nothing roles. They are in these commercials just for being good looking. However, this slave morality has barely affected our own society. I guess that this slave morality has taught us that these traits: strength, beauty, and power, aren’t everything; so that we are not obsessed with just being the strongest or best looking.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that the epic stories we have read in search have over glorified the strong. For example, Gilgamesh, despite his incredible strength was still unable to be remembered by anyone for anything more than the height of his city walls. He is shown to have great weakness in other ways than just physical strength. And another example would be Achilles where despite his extreme prowess on the battlefield was felled by the least likely of foes, Paris. Paris was not a soldier, he was more of a lover and a poet than a military man and yet he was able to kill the greatest warrior in all of Greece. I think that while it may seem as though in today's society we focus a lot on the beautiful, the strong, and the smart that that has always been the way the world has worked. People are celebrated for what they excel in and not celebrated for the aspects that they aren't as strong in.
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