Beyond Good And Evil

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1886

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Need to Transcend the Ideals of the Current Age

If one theme can be traced through the whole of the book it is the necessity for the contemporary ideals and values to be transcended in favor of newly created ideals and values by the free spirits with the willpower to do so. The first thing that needs to be transcended is the “belief in antitheses of values” (6), or, in other words, the necessity for viewing the world in black and white, in directly opposing contraries where there is only one option. The world, as he sees it, is really only experienced in varying shades of gray. Nothing could be further from reality than the idea that there is always and everywhere an objective truth to which all people at any perspective may adhere.

Going further, the contemporary ideals of virtue are also to be cast aside and advanced upon, for the virtues of the common person would actually be seen as “vice and weakness in a philosopher” (36) since the philosopher is one who must transcend the commonly and traditionally held values in favor of their own, which are created with the purpose of imposing their will, their bold new vision, upon the world. It is even necessary to say that concepts as fundamental as God will be transcended: “‘God’ and ‘sin,’ will one day seem to us of no more importance than a child’s plaything or a child’s pain seems to an old man” (61).

The ideals of the past must die for Nietzsche’s vision to come true, and for Nietzsche it is simply a matter of being perceptive and open to the truth instead of the willful creation of a false ideal. Every age, in fact, considers the evils of the past to be good and the goods of the past to be evil. With each succeeding generation, the moral values shift like windswept sands, and it is the “real philosophers, however, [who] are commanders and law-givers” (123) and who will create the new reality in which the world will live and breathe.

The Independence of the Real Philosophers

The real philosophers are, for Nietzsche, to be distinguished from those who identify themselves as philosophers or who are called so by the general public. The real philosophers are the free spirit who will take on “the greatest responsibility, who has the conscience for the general development of mankind” (64) and who will use their intelligence and their natural gifts and station in life to effect real change. The true philosophers are born such; they are unable to run from their calling and cannot bear to be counted among the commonfolk even to the point of enjoying their status as enigmas and desiring a reputation for mystery and misinterpretation just so they will be even further set apart.

The real philosophers “are commanders and law-givers; they say: ‘Thus shall it be!’ They determine first the Whither and the Why of mankind” (123) in such a way that they alone are responsible (and indeed have the duty) for the collapse of the old systems and the implementation of that which is new and daring. These are also those noble souls who are the “determiner of values” (185), centering themselves as the measure and the mark of what is good, just, and right rather than finding the measure of the good in some extrinsic and objective outside source. It is also the mark of the real philosopher that it is not something that can be taught; it is only something that can be learned and received through experience. Since it is not a vocation one can simply choose among many but rather a calling and a compulsion, it is a position that is not to be taken lightly and is a truly independent (and even sometimes lonely) life. To swim against the stream with purposeful intention is a monumental task, and it is only the self-determining will to power that can supply the philosopher with the moral gravitas to complete their creative act of novel valuation.

The Impotence and Vulgarity of Sympathy

Nietzsche’s call to exercise the will to power is the antithesis of the practice of sympathy, an emotion singled out for particular derision in Beyond Good and Evil. The practice of sympathy is what allows far too much of what should have perished on its own demerits to continue on in existence far past its expiration date. The cry of sympathy is diametrically opposed to the suffering that is so necessary for humanity to grow and advance, and its promotion is akin to a religion so often is it preached. The reason sympathy is so reviled, of course, is because it is the natural enemy of that force of will that moves forward unflinchingly past and over any previous constraints, pushing beyond good and evil and toward a future where the force of the will is the only determiner of values, regardless of the manner in which others may suffer for it.

As the chief promoter of sympathy, the Christian religion deserves particular scorn in Nietzsche’s eyes, for as he puts it: “The Christian faith from the beginning, is sacrifice the sacrifice of all freedom, all pride, all self-confidence of spirit, it is at the same time subjection, self-derision, and self-mutilation” (52). Contrary to this Christian attitude of humble service is the reality of life itself, which is “conquest of the strange and weak, suppression [… and] exploitation” (183). The New Testament is to be despised for its promotion of love and neighborly care for all; one thinks of such passages as the parable of the Good Samaritan or the Beatitudes, in which things like humility and meekness are valued, as specific instances of New Testament values Nietzsche is working against.

Sympathy is the prime value of those who adhere to the “slave-morality” (185) of utility and of subservience. The author believes it is characteristic of those who are too weak and too unthinking to be free spirits themselves, shifting old mores and creating new values from the creative imagination of their own minds. Culture is suffocated by the superstition of sympathy, and it snuffs out the lifeblood of the culture in which it takes root. This soft and debilitating habit must be broken to make way for the self-determination that must take hold of the individuals who are to rule the world in the ultra-moral age to come.