Master And Slave Morality Essay

A Discussion of Nietzsche’s Master and Slave Morality and Ascetic Ideal

In his work, Nietzsche introduces the concepts of Master and Slave Morality and with them, the problem of the Ascetic Ideal. Master morality is, in short, a morality of strength, individualism, and nobility that weighs actions on their consequences. Slave morality, on the other hand, values humility, sympathy, and kindness. It values actions based on whether their intent was one of “good” or “evil.” He links Slave morality to the moral codes of Christianity and emphasises that morality of “good” or “evil” is ultimately harmful. However, in modern times, Nietzsche believes that everyone experiences the struggle between Master and Slave morality. The concepts are not necessarily opposite, but rather two different ways of thinking. Master morality associates morals with a person, more specifically a person this class’ actions will always be considered “good” because they are the marker of goodness. Therefore “bad,” in this case, is a person who is cowardly and
His first distinction between the moralities is in section forty-five of Human, All Too Human. He says that“good” was associated with the noble caste and “bad” was synonymous for “base” or the masses. But the morality of the noble, the Master morality, is not sustainable for a society. He writes, “When this disposition exists in the individual, a community can hardly arise, at best the most rudimentary form of community: so that wherever this conception of good and evil reigns the downfall of such individuals, of their tribes and races, is near. - Our present morality has grown up in the soil of the ruling tribes and castes.” Slave morality arises from the jealousy of the base and their need to assert some form of power, so they create communities and oust powerful