Monday, December 26, 2016

Study Questions for Nietzsche

1. Good vs. Bad and Good vs. Evil, are two dimensions of values for Nietzsche. What’s the difference? What relation to power? to excellence?

2. Guilt and ‘Bad Conscience’ are essential parts of his analysis of how the victory of the ‘slaves’ is sustained. Explain.  What role does Nietzsche assign to the ‘ascetic priests’?

3. Nietzsche believes that the person who embodies what he calls the ‘aristocratic’ or ‘noble’ ideal are not bound by conventional morality. They are beyond ‘good and evil’. (He calls such a person an Übermensch (often translated as ‘Superman’). What hints – through examples or explicitly – does he give to what kind of person this is?

4. The term ‘genealogy’ in the title indicates something of Nietzsche’s method of analysis, his understanding of what is a convincing way of arguing for his position. How does this differ as a way to convince the reader of the truth of his view of morality from the empiricism of Hume, or the rationalism of Kant?

5. Nietzsche famously said “God is Dead” (in his book, The Gay Science). On the basis of The Genealogy of Morals, what does he mean by ‘God’?

application 1:  Is Trump (or Obama) more like a Nietzschean ‘’Übermensch”, Machiavellian Prince with virtú? or a Nietzschean priest?

application 2:  Was Trump’s victory like a revolution of the slaves?

No comments:

Post a Comment