Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900; Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation; Philosophy
The Jews---a people "born for slavery," as Tacitus and the whole
ancient world say of them; "the chosen people among the nations," as
they themselves say and believe--the Jews performed the miracle of the
inversion of valuations, by means of which life on earth obtained a
new and dangerous charm for a couple of millenniums. Their prophets
fused into one the expressions "rich," "godless," "wicked," "violent,"
"sensual," and for the first time coined the word "world" as a term of
reproach. In this inversion of valuations (in which is also included
the use of the word "poor" as synonymous with "saint" and "friend") the
significance of the Jewish people is to be found; it is with _them_
that the _slave-insurrection in morals_ commences. 117
The beast of prey and the man of prey (for instance, Cæsar Borgia) are
fundamentally misunderstood, "nature" is misunderstood, so long as one
seeks a "morbidness" in the constitution of these healthiest of all
tropical monsters and growths.... 118
All the systems of morals which address themselves to individuals
with a view to their "happiness," as it is called--what else are they
but suggestions for behaviour adapted to the degree of _danger_ from
themselves in which the individuals live; recipes for their passions,
their good and bad propensities in so far as such have the Will to
Power and would like to play the master; small and great expediencies
and elaborations, permeated with the musty odour of old family
medicines and old-wife wisdom; all of them grotesque and absurd in
their form--because they address themselves to "all," because they
generalise where generalisation is not authorised; all of them speaking
unconditionally, and taking themselves unconditionally; all of them
flavoured not merely with one grain of salt, but rather endurable only,
and sometimes even seductive, when they are over-spiced and begin to
smell dangerously, especially of "the other world." 118-119
In view ... of the fact that obedience has been most practised and
fostered among mankind hitherto, one may reasonably suppose that,
generally speaking, the need thereof is now innate in every one, as a
kind of _formal conscience._... 120
The history of the influence of Napoleon is almost the history of
the higher happiness to which the entire century has attained in its
worthiest individuals and periods. 121
As long as the utility which determines moral estimates is only
gregarious utility, as long as the preservation of the community is
only kept in view, and the immoral is sought precisely and exclusively
in what seems dangerous to the maintenance of the community, there can
be no "morality of love to one's neighbour." 123
"Love of our neighbour," is always a secondary matter, partly
conventional and arbitrarily manifested in relation to our _fear of our
neighbour._ 123
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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