Nietzsche's Essay On Good And Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche’s first essay, The Good and Evil, Good and Bad is Nietzsche’s thoughts on the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. In describing the origins of ‘goodness’, Nietzsche points out that the concept of ‘good’ was created when an individual determined “un-egoistic” acts to be “good” (Nietzsche, §2). Furthermore, the idea of a ‘good’ act came from the point of view to which the deeds were done. However, he does not agree with this origin of “good”. Rather, he argues that “good” had not been determined by those who were shown goodness, but by those who see themselves as “the good”—the noble man (§2). The “noble man” alongside the “man of ressentiment” play an important role in Nietzsche’s discussion of master-morality and slave-morality. Nietzsche suggests that it was the noble man who gave definition to the word “good”, or what qualities qualify as being “good”. Essentially, the master morality arises from the self-affirmation of the noble man (§10). The noble examines themselves and the qualities that have to shape the definition of
In examining both the noble man and the man of ressentiment, the terms “good and evil” appear to be relative to their respective groups. It can be difficult to define what is “good” and what is “evil”. The noble man creates this idea of “good” by attributing it to the qualities that are pulled from himself, such as “strong” or “happy”. What is seen as “bad” to the noble man is what contrast with its concept of good. However, the man of ressentiment proceeds to do a similar process as the noble man. It views its own qualities as “good”, and since it views the noble man as an enemy, the qualites that are attributed to them are “evil”. What can be gathered here is that it is difficult to define what is “good” and what is “evil”. What is considered “good” to the noble man is considered “evil” to the man of