Continental Philosophy

Nietzsche's Psychology of Morality and Religion

Primary Sources:

Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (BGE), sections 45 - 55, 186 - 200, 260 - 262, 265, 268, 287
Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (GM)
Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols (TI), "The 'Improvers' of Mankind"

Secondary Sources:

A.C. Danto, 1965, Nietzsche as Philosopher, chapter 6
A.C. Danto, 1988, "Some Remarks on the Genealogy of Morals", in R.C. Solomon and K.M. Higgins (eds.), Reading Nietzsche
G. Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, chapter 4
B. Williams, "Nietzsche's Minimalist Moral Psychology", in European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 1, 1993
A. Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature, chapter 4
W. Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, chapters 7, 8

Questions:

What is the "man of ressentiment" according to Nietzsche? How does his distinctive "slave "morality arise"? How is it distinguished from "master morality" (cf. BGE 260 and TI)? What is the difference between "good and bad", on the one hand, and "good and evil", on the other? How are the notions of activity and passivity, and of forgetting and memory related to these types of morality (cf. Deleuze)? What is the significance of the origin of "slave morality", does its origin depreciate it (cf. GM II 12)?

What are the origins of guilt and bad conscience, how are these notions appropriated by the priest? Consider first why forgetting is a useful activity and how it is overcome in order to make promising possible (cf. GM II 1ff and Deleuze). How is responsibility made possible, what is the "mnemotechnic" of prehistory? Why does punishment arise out of anger (cf. GM II 4ff), rather than revenge (cf. GM II 11)? What is the relationship between bad conscience and society (cf. GM II 16ff)? Why is bad conscience an illness? How is bad conscience related to God (cf. GM II 19ff)? How does morality make use of the bad conscience (cf. GM II 21)?

What is the function of the ascetic ideal in general, how does the priest use it? Consider why the ascetic ideal can be useful for the philosopher (cf. GM III 7, 8, 10). Why can the ascetic ideal originate in a "protective instinct of life" (cf. GM III 13)? Explain the "most general formula for what is commonly called 'religion'" (cf. GM III 17). How does the priest redirect ressentiment (cf. GM III 15)? Why does the priest have to be ill himself (ibid.)? What is the difference between the priest and his herd, why is he "almost a new type of predator" (ibid. and also Deleuze p. 126)? How can the priest be useful for life (cf. GM III 16ff)? Why is he not a doctor, only a consoler (cf. GM III 17)? How can guilt be an "excess of passion (or feeling)", what is the function of this excess (cf. GM III 19ff)?

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