The racist and fascist foundation of Nazism has often been attributed to the writings of Nietzsche. In actuality, however, not only did Nietzsche not espouse such ideas, but also he also expressly opposed them. The blatant racism, oppression, and mass mentality of the Nazi regime are incompatible with Nietzsche's writings. Conceptually, it is difficult to fathom how Hitler managed to warp Nietzsche's ideas and writings to fuel his own totalitarian Nazi agenda. Although Nietzsche's writings did influence Hitler, it was only through misinterpretation and manipulation that Hitler came to believe that Nietzsche held pro-Nazi beliefs and promoted his works as the philosophical underpinning of the Third Reich.…
In Beyond Good & Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche seeks to develop the idea of moral philosophy beyond basic pleasures, how they relate to the general population, and further into our own personal intricacies and how they create a set of rules that apply to most individuals. Throughout the book, Nietzsche articulate well over 200 epigrams, each of which highlights a different aspect of human morality. Nietzsche’s 68th epigram dictates: “‘I have done that,’ says my memory. ‘I cannot have done that,’ says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually--memory yields.” When assessing this aphorism, it is not only important to assess why our memory yields and what ensues as a result, but also what would occur if we didn’t. One could argue that we must remember our mistakes and learn from them and, by choosing to forget our mistakes for our own pride’s sake, we stall our own moral progression. However, it could also be said that forgetting our own mistakes is vital to our moral progression because rather than merely learning from our mistakes, by constantly remembering them, we allow ourselves to be caught in a cycle of guilt, preventing us from truly moving on. Rather than blindly assessing the aphorism on its own, one must look through Nietzsche’s lens regarding the concepts of intention and truth in order to determine which of the above interpretations is more plausible. Although the first notion is a reasonable interpretation of Nietzsche’s epigram regarding widely accepted notions of morality, the second proves to be a more valid conclusion when following Nietzschean philosophy. While the first interpretation allows for moral recognition and awareness, the second allows for actual progress in the individual.…
The professor Philip Hallie’s ‘From Cruelty to Goodness’ radiates unwavering genuine philanthropy which by its nature oppose the cruelty and imbalance of power he talks about. The understanding of how cruelty works goes through the understanding what cruelty is and what morality has to say about that. Professor Hallie recognizes two types of ethics- negative and positive- that illuminate the path of good-making. The negative is the ban for actions associated with deliberate harm-making and pain-inflicting on other human beings. The most significant negative ethical rules are the Ten Commandments, says the professor. As reverse, the positive rules enjoin actions that preserve human’s welfare. The positive ethics commands activity; demands courage, and takes sacrifice. The positive ethical rules are for the brave. In close association with the ethical rules, whether negative or positive, comes the question what cruelty is? Had we looked at the institutionalized type of cruelty from the near past to nowadays as the slavery, the Holocaust, the political prisons and the prisoner-of-war camps we would see the cruelty is not mere bloodshed, cut-off limbs, beatings and other atrocities which all are included though. The cruelty goes beyond that- it affects the self-respect, self-esteem, all of that which makes person a person and destroys it. So the cruelty not only (often) kills the body, it first kills the spirit, the soul, the life inside. As professor Hallie uncovers the cruelty derives from something so frequently seen as the imbalanced power in the relationship. The relationship could be both personal (private) or institutionalized. The imbalance is being born when the power between the two parties is unequally distributed, often leaving one of the parties with negligible or no power. Respectively, the strong party gains not only the power to decide for herself but to rule over the destiny of the powerless side. The imbalance of power resides in families, business…
For the vast majority morals are sets of guidelines that we should comply, they let us know what is correct or off-base. Moral philosophers need to find how these guidelines are legitimized, and at the consistent outcomes of moral or moral convictions. The time of enlightenment saw a questioning of religious and customary qualities. Philosophers expected to construct moral framework in light of reasonable grounds. Kant's moral framework depends on levelheadedness. It endeavors to indicate how any objective being would consent to widespread moral laws. Its impact has been colossal and current philosophers still utilize Kant's thoughts as a beginning stage for exchanges on morality. The other incredible moral arrangement of the post-enlightenment time is…
Corrupt aspects of Man’s nature are shown in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth as well as through the ambition of Hitler and his desire to overthrow Germany and eliminate all Jews. This is shown by both Macbeth and Hitler’s murderous ambitious attitudes to do whatever it takes to become one of the most powerful people of their time.…
By re-read the last paragraph of chapter two, Heinrich Koselitz finds that his friend Nietzsche changes his writing style to be tighter and telegraphic by using keyboard (Carr. 18). However, not only Nietzsche’s writing is changed by typing, but my writing is also changed by typing.…
What drove him to become so thirsty for power was none other than his wife. She planted evil plans in his head that changed him forever. Before this Macbeth would not even think of killing the king but after his wife questioned his manliness and threatened their love he was left with no choice but to consider the idea of killing the king. By killing King Duncan he not only gained the title of king of scotland but fulfilled the last prophecy given by the three weird sisters. He felt invincible he couldn’t stop the great power of becoming king from corrupting him. He had to do whatever was necessary to protect his power he saw Banquo as a threat. Going against all his beliefs he cowardly killed Banquo but killing Banquo is not enough.…
Bill Bradley says, “Ambition is the path to success.” Ambition is the strong desire to achieve something. It can have a positive or negative effect on one. In Macbeth, Macbeth suffers from ambition, and it is his tragic flaw. Macbeth has a passion to become king and have power. He uses the ambition throughout the play which contribute to many murders. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth uses ambition to kill the king, murder Banquo's’ sons, and kill Macduff’s family.…
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth judges that power is more important than fear which is shown through his actions and words, and that reveals greed for more power will cause one to resort to an irrational nature. Macbeth’s judgment being power is more important than fear is shown through his actions towards Duncan and Banquo, which displays that greed for more power will cause one to resort to an irrational nature. Macbeth murdering King Duncan reveals his judgment.…
Our behaviors as humans are dependent on many factors. Manifestly, some of these factors include genetics, religious teachings, moral history, and our ambient environment. With that said there are an innumerable amount factors, but which one impacts our decisions the most? What is that that controls our behavior? Dr. Zimbardo writes in Finding Hope in Knowing the Universal Capacity for Evil, “That human behavior is more influenced by things outside of us than inside. The ‘situation’ is the external environment … There are times when external circumstances can overwhelm us, and we do things we never thought.” Sometimes doing what seems the right thing to do is just too hard emotionally and physically. We capitulate to our gut instincts and do whatever we can to put ourselves in an advantageous…
The lust Macbeth has for power has deteriorated his mind and transformed him into a liar. To elaborate, the significant event in Act II was the assassination of Duncan, the king of Scotland, by Macbeth. Macbeth committed this murder to seize the throne for himself, as predicted by the Witches. Before he crossed that bridge and burned it, Macbeth was a loyal and powerful member of the Scottish nobility. His morals and state of mind were in good shape, however, when he thinks he can be king, the desire for power overwhelms him. Up to the point of the murder Macbeth’s state of mind deteriorates due to the abandonment of loyalty and his morals. This is shown when Macbeth is waiting for Lady Macbeth’s signal that Duncan and his guards have…
The General statement made by William Shakespeare in the play Macbeth is that conflict that comes with the thirst of power can cause someone to conform, then is challenged to decide whether to pursue the desire of the thirst of power or conform to a regular life. More specifically, when Macbeth is given the prophecy from the three witches, he then has the thirst for power that makes him lose all of his morals.…
Being a victim is an uncontrollable position that most people do not deserve to suffer through. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth is victimized in a variety of ways due to his surroundings which purloin his real character. Lady Macbeth’s uncontrolled ambition takes a turn for the worse on Macbeth, as she pressures him to murder the king. However, it all started from the witches’ prophecies that put the thought through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s head that Macbeth could potentially become the next king. This thought expanded Lady Macbeth’s gender giving her freakish manly ambition triggering her to take over her husband. It is through Macbeth’s destiny, Lady Macbeth’s uncontrolled ambitions, and the influence of power that victimized Macbeth forcing him to murder former acquaintances, and altered him into a hated man by the end of the play.…
Frank Herbert once said, "Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.” In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character seizes “absolute power”, making him “absolutely corruptible”, which ultimately led him to his eventual death. In the play, Macbeth, the title character, seizes absolute power over his people when he brutally kills the real king to be crowned the new king of Scotland. Achieving power in this way allows him to be consumed by guilt and fear at first, which then develops into violence and the demise of both him, his wife, and ultimately his reign. Through examining the consequences that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth face after trying to achieve power, it is clear that wrongly seizing power…
The Genealogy of Morals is comprised of three essays that focus on and criticizes the value of moral judgements. The first essay, “Good and Evil,” “Good and Bad” contrasts what Nietzsche describes as “Master Morality,” “Slave Morality.” Master morality was developed by the strong, free and healthy who had control over their own happiness. Slave morality is the feelings that the slaves adopted from being controlled by their wealthy and happy masters. These people were nicknamed the masters of evil and ironically called themselves good by comparison. The second essay “Guilt, “Bad Conscience,” and the like. It deals with guilt and bad conscience and the like. Nietzsche traced the origins of the ideas and found out that the idea of guilt and punishment were originally not based on any sense of moral transgression. Instead guilt actually meant some sort of debt was owed and that punishment was simply a form of…