Preview

Nietzsche

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1601 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nietzsche
Iisha Clark
Business Ethics
PHL 248-501
Final

“The beginning of the slaves’ revolt in morality occurs when ressentiment itself turns creative and gives birth to values: the ressentiment of those beings who, denied the proper response of action, compensate for it only with imaginary revenge. Whereas all noble morality grows out of a triumphant saying ‘yes’ to itself, slave morality says ‘no’ on principle to everything that is ‘outside’, ‘other’, ‘non-self ’: and this ‘no’ is its creative deed. This reversal of the evaluating glance – this essential orientation to the outside instead of back onto itself – is a feature of ressentiment: in order to come about, slave morality first has to have an opposing, external world, it needs, physiologically speaking, external stimuli in order to act at all, – its action is basically a reaction” (Nietzsche, First Essay para. 10). Slave morality is something that the inferior came up with to comfort themselves against their superiors. Those that are inferior use slave morality to cope with the fact that they are too weak to defend themselves against those who hold more power than them. Slaves do not like the fact that the wealthy have power and social status. Therefore, slave moralists view those who have authority as being evil and themselves (the commoners) as being good.
Nietzsche clearly states this in the example he uses with the birds and lambs. “– There is nothing strange about the fact that lambs bear a grudge towards large birds of prey: but that is no reason to blame the large birds of prey for carrying off the little lambs. And if the lambs say to each other, ‘These birds of prey are evil; and whoever is least like a bird of prey and most like its opposite, a lamb, – is good, isn’t he?’,” (Nietzsche, First Essay para 13). This paragraph is a perfect example of slave morality. The birds of prey are strong and take advantage of the lambs as they see fit. The lambs are weak and are not able to physically defend

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The adage “You reap what you sow” is the saying that characterizes the times of slavery. Slave masters sowed bad seeds upon themselves by abusing, neglecting, undermining, and deceiving their slaves. In return, they reaped consequences of slave rebellion, slave wittiness, and overall the come up of the black race. In Larry Rivers “A Troublesome Property: Master-Slave Relations in Florida 1821-1865” he expounds on how slaves used what was supposed to make them oppressed and hopeless to their advantage by them learning how to outsmart their masters.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Douglass also highlights the irony in the idea of white superiority by comparing his audience to things they believe to be beneath them. He refuses to argue that slavery is wrong or that slaves are men until “…the dogs in your streets… the fowls of the air… and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute.” With this statement, Douglass calls into question the humanity and intelligence of his audience in order to snatch their attention. By asserting that his audiences’ intelligence on the subject of slavery is less than that of an animal, he forces the audience and the country to re-think their treatment of slaves. Douglass goes even a step further by saying, “…I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and in some sense, the freest people in the world… The free laborer must work or starve. He is more of slave than the Negro, because he works longer and harder for less allowance than the slave.”…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the narrative of Frederick Douglass, during the 19th Century, the conditions slaves experienced were not only cruel, but inhumane. It is a common perception that “cruelty” refers to the physical violence and torture that slaves endure. However, in this passage, Douglass conveys the degrading treatment towards young slaves in the plantation, as if they were domesticated animals. The slaves were deprived of freedom and basic human rights. They were not only denied of racial equality, they weren’t even recognized as actual human beings.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Southern slave-owners thought that northerners abolishing slavery would lead to them being “overthrown” by the negroes. However, there were groups of whites that dissented against slavery and fought to make it illegal in the South. Those in favor in slavery, like George Fitzhugh, attempted to justify their beliefs by saying Africans resemble “grown-up children.” Thus, masters must take the role of a “parent or guardian.” On a social scale, children are inferior to their parents.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slavery is taught in many, if not all, educational systems in a way that focuses on the maltreatment of Africans by Whites. This concept is usually unanimously understood to be wrong and immoral. However, very few look beyond the beatings into the social structure of the slaves. Frederick Douglass’s, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, does not specifically focus on the slave social structure. Yet, if one were to look deeper into the book, the irony of the prejudices of the slave class can become more apparent.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Firstly, Nietzsche is assuming that there is an already pre-determined will of the bird of prey, and that will is to kill the lamb. He thinks of will, fundamentally, what one is. Therefore the bird is its own will that wills him to kill. That might be the case for animals as they rely on their instincts to survive, and the birds instinct is to kill. However, when it comes humans things can be quite different. The idea of Nietzsche’s will and free will complicates our analysis. Does the strong oppresses the weak because of the will that he is, which is to oppress the weak, or because he chooses to? I’m am not going to discuss whether there is such thing as free will because that’s a debate that has been going on since the beginnings of philosophy, but it would be an objection to the naturally arisen oppression of Nietzsche. Secondly, another thing that is worth taking into consideration is the level of consciousness of human compared to other animals’. I don’t believe that the analogy of the bird and the prey is the right fit for humans because humans don’t rely only on their instincts, but also on logic, rationalism, and subjectivism. What Nietzsche is suggesting, might be the case for the primitive human which was basically just another animal and lived in caves, but things have changed since human started seeing…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, Douglass uses rhetorical devices to convey his meaning that slavery is the worst possible experience for humanity in a contemptuous tone. Douglass states, “the wretchedness of slavery, and the blessedness of freedom, were perpetually before me.” This use of antithesis in parallel structure is used to convey his meaning by contrasting the two ideas of slavery and freedom, showing how extremely awful or beautiful each is and to show the differences between them. The use of the word “wretchedness” creates a contemptuous tone in this quote. He then goes on to state that upon arriving in New York he felt “like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.” This simile is used to show the extent of his fear when in the south, showing how slavery is the worst experience for humankind. This comparison is made using a scornful tone, shown by the dehumanizing of the South through slavery. Next, Douglass explains that during his stay in the North “[he] was afraid to speak to any one for fear of speaking to any one for fear of speaking to the wrong one, and thereby falling into the hands of money-loving kidnappers, whose business it was to lie in wait for the panting fugitive, as the ferocious beats of the forest lie in wait for their prey.” Douglass writes this long sentence for the rhetorical effect of imitating the style of a person ranting, or speaking uncontrollably due to fear to show the horror of slavery. This is written in a bitter or scornful tone through his descriptions of the fugitive kidnappers. Douglass also includes that “[he] saw in every white man an enemy and in every colored man cause for distrust.” This almost equal parallelism is used to compare the common fear Douglass had for both races. The negative outlook on both races shows Douglass’s disdainful tone. Douglass further explains his outlook when he states his motto at the time was “Trust no man!” This…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Douglass points out that slaves would often times think of their master as better than other masters, with a sense of dignity, because “to be a poor man’s slave was deemed a disgrace indeed” (35). Slaves would often times give up their natural fellowship with other slaves for a miniscule amount of dignity. Slaves would additionally betray other slaves. In Douglass’ case, one of the slaves in his premature plan of escape betrayed him and he ended up in jail. Douglass was sure who testified against them, saying that he and his other friends “came to a unanimous decision [...] as to who their informant was” (95). This disloyalty among slaves was not due to the harshness of the masters, but simply due to the system of slavery itself. In fact, some slaves would take the side of their slaveholders rather than fellow slaves with the belief that their prospects were better as slaves, but this statement is among the many false mythologies of slavery.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slaves were forced to lie about their satisfaction with their masters. Therefore, slaves would compare and argue about whose master was more fair, rich, or kind. Douglass uses situational irony and explains, “It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave; but to be a poor man’s slave was deemed a disgrace indeed! (11).” Douglass says that in this quote, even though being a slave was terrible enough, having a poor master was even worse. What he…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    "Brought from the African wilds to constitute the laboring class of a pioneering society in the new world, the heathen slaves had to be trained to meet the needs of their environment. It required little argument to convince intelligent masters that slaves who had some conception of modern civilization and understood the language of their owners would be more valuable than rude men with whom one could not communicate. The questions, however, as to exactly what kind of training these Negroes should have, and how far it should go, were to the white race then as much a matter of perplexity as they are now. Yet, believing that slaves could not be enlightened without developing in them a longing for liberty, not a few masters maintained that the more brutish the bondmen the more pliant they become for purposes of exploitation. It was this class of slaveholders that finally won the majority of southerners to their way of thinking and determined that Negroes should not be educated" (Woodson 1- 2).…

    • 2767 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Douglass believes that the realization of an ultimate power over another human being changes the oppressor into someone who is power hungry . The ability to hold power over someone else produces a sense of superiority that transforms how they act and how they treat others. They feel as though they are innately better than those below them, which in the case of slavery was justified using race. The development of an innate belief that some races are merely above others was used to justify slavery and its consequences. Frederick Douglass describes how Sophia Auld cane to see him as lower due to the realization that she held so much power over him. This was display via how she could controls exposure to education and new ideas, something that could have decreased her power over him. Rather than citing power-hungriness as the cause for detrimental behavior. Memmi states that the feeling of guilt and paranoia change how colonizers act abtd cause them to be more superior. People who colonize feel as though they don't belong and are alienated from society. The creation of new rules favoring them and their claims to land do little to remedy the situation as they make the colonizers feel even more like outcasts. This is due to them changing the system and thereby being unable to use the system t justify and legitimize their actions. The action of stealing makes them feel as though their position is unjustified making them feel like an imposter. This feeling results in a greater oppression as they feel that the oppressed feel the same way and go to extreme length to justify their…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slavery

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    i mentioned how slavery is inhumane; an example for this would be in the article, "PREPOSSESSED OF THE OPINION... THAT EUROPEANS ARE FOND OF THEIR FLESH" mentions the quote, "many of those slaves we transport from guinea to America are prepossessed with the opinion, that they are carried like sheep to the slaughter, and that the Europeans are fond of their flesh" the Europeans who craved this cruel trade, treated theses slaves as animals. Helpless animals. In this passage the speaker uses simile, he chose this device to compare how easy it was to drag the African Americans to their death. This emphasizes how low the Europeans seen the slaves, even though they were in such use. In doing so this adds sympathy for the many races that have been through slavery. no society should accept such inhumane behavior. Next, we see that the author John Barbot in, '' PREPOSSESSED OF THE OPINION...THAT EUROPEANS ARE FOUND OF THEIR FLESH'' mention the quote, '' these slaves severely and barbarously treated by their masters, who subsist them poorly, and beat them inhumanly, as may be seen by the scabs and wounds on the bodies of many of them when sold'' this quote shows us that the Europeans beat the slaves nearly to death and work them nearly to death and…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Slavery Is Wrong

    • 287 Words
    • 1 Page

    So in conclusion, as Equiano said, "When you make men slaves you deprive them of half their virtues, you set them in your own conduct an example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them, tho live with you in a state of…

    • 287 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    My Bondage, My Freedom

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Fredrick Douglass has gone down in American History as one f the greatest minds in history. Within this book, he did not resort to arguments of reason or philosophy in the work in an attempt to illustrate the immorality of slavery, as many other scholars may have done. Instead, perhaps because of his education and natural intelligence, coupled with a keen awareness of public sensibility, he refrained from attacking those responsible for using slaves, as well as those responsible for supporting the institution, itself. Instead, recognizing the limitations of his time and dominant social culture, he used the device of emotion to convey the brutality to the sympathetic part of his reader 's psyches.…

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays