Welcome to this lecture series on ethics This
is the 18th lecture and this lecture will
focus on the following topics Now what we
are going to do here is the previous lectures
we have examined some very important ethical
perspectives and frameworks So here we will
try to see a criticism of Uhh many of these
frameworks and also to the very idea of ethics
as it is conceived in the European tradition
In this lecture we will focus on the works
of Frederick Nietzsche the famous German philosopher
and in the coming lecture we will have a look
on the existentialist ethics which actually
draws a lot from Uhh Nietzscheian But Nietzscheian
ethics is quite interesting and also very
important because he is the ultimate critique
of moral absolutism We have already seen people
criticising ethical perspective of absolutism
moral absolutism
Many many have done that like right from the
Greek tradition itself we had Sophists and
then many others have criticised it many others
have rejected it the very idea of moral absolutism
but no one has done it in the way Nietzsche
has done it It was so powerful Nietzsche’s
criticism which is actually a criticism of
modernity itself or rather enlightenment philosophy
itself And again the moral perspectives of
European civilisation which the European civilisation
considered or the intellectual tradition considered
as very important
So this lecture is titled as critic of moral
absolutism Nietzsche and his re evaluation
of morals because he proposes something called
re evaluation of morals We will also discuss
that So here I begin with a quote
It is from the preface to be anarchist I quote
Mankind does not represent a development toward
something better or stronger or higher in
the sense accepted today Progress is merely
a modern idea that is a false idea I have
pointed out this because you know according
to Nietzsche who came into prominence towards
the end of 19th century the kind of morality
which Europe had adopted towards that time
towards the end of 19th century was influenced
by an idea of progress which both capitalism
and modern science was proposing
There is this idea that humankind is progressing
and a better world is awaiting us science
and technology would definitely lead to better
and better world better and better life for
humankind These are the kinds of things which
people believed towards the end of this period
and Uhh Nietzsche was critical about it
He questioned the very idea of progress itself
and also the moral framework or the moral
perspective which is based on this idea So
we will see that And before that let us begin
with the whole idea of values What do you
mean by values
According to Nietzsche there is no absolute
values exist and human beings have created
values as they are essential for life So here
he sounds like many others whom we have already
examined Like as I have already pointed out
the Sophists then Thomas Hobbes we have seen
quite recently that he is also of the view
that we have created values as they are essential
for us to overcome the natural state and many
others
But Uhh of course Nietzsche presents his view
from a different perspective He says that
such values may become obsolete and Uhh then
we have to create new values So he is not
a nihilist in the classical sense of the term
nihilism A nihilist is a person who rejects
everything and rejects value A moral nihilist
is a person who questions the very idea of
morality but Nietzsche cannot be considered
as a moral nihilist in that sense of the term
He only rejects the kind of morality which
we have adopted now and proposes that we should
create new values Philosophers should create
new values That is what he would be saying
And Uhh what is wrong with morality
When he talks about morality he says that
there are no moral facts whatever So morality
is not a science Morality cannot be understood
as a science so that when we try to understand
morality we are not approaching a world of
facts but something else And Uhh it presupposes
the concept of free will We have been examining
this we have been saying this repeatedly that
you know free will has been considered occupying
a central place in all modern discourses
See for example in Kant we have seen that
it has been asserted that an oath implies
a can So freedom of will is so essential otherwise
we will not be able to talk about morality
at all We will not be able to talk about ethics
at all This seems to be the position adopted
by many philosophers and many ethicists in
the past
It is in the light of this concept of free
will we talk about moral accountability and
moral responsibility And we have seen that
morality or ethics is all about responsibility
because basically in today’s world also
when we talk about ethics we basically mean
responsibility that every action the agent
of the action is responsible for we should
be able to justify it why did we perform it
Why did we choose to act in certain way
So in a sense you know these terms are very
closely interconnected but Nietzsche questions
the very assumption behind such ideas and
says that they are not interconnected And
says that the very notion of free will which
makes possible such interconnection itself
is a false idea So he presupposes universal
human nature so that morals had universal
application
So this is another assumption of almost all
moral frameworks because morality as a discipline
becomes valid only because it is applicable
to everyone So there is a certain sense of
universalism that is associated with the very
science of morality which Nietzsche opposes
He says that we cannot talk about any moral
values to be universal So we will come to
that
And again morals assis the week to suppress
the strong: the lower men will win over the
higher men Here you would find the real Nietzsche
This is Nietzsche’s view He says that the
very purpose of morality in human history
seems to be what To assist the weak to suppress
the strong
The weak people who are plenty in number and
the strong people who were always in minority
but whether they are minority or majority
the strong will always rule over the weak
That is the rule of nature that is the rule
of history but this often does not happen
because the morals ever since man has invented
morality morality has been taken up morality
has been projected as a kind of a golden rule
which would support the suppression of the
strong by the weak
The weak will always highlight morality or
moral values and would say that what they
say is right Their concept of right and wrong
would be established their concept of right
and wrong would be forcefully applied upon
the entire world So the strong also will have
to obey that And here when he began his evaluation
of Uhh different moral perspectives he comes
up with a very strong criticism of different
schools that of morality that existed prior
to him
So utilitarianism for example we can never
know the consequences of an act That is what
Nietzsche tells As we have seen utilitarianism
as a moral theory as an ethical theory assumes
that the consequences of an action is more
important in determining the moral value of
an action So consequentialism what follows
an action is more important So we have to
know beforehand before we act whether this
action is going to lead to good consequences
or not
If it leads to good consequences it has to
be treated as a good action but then what
Nietzsche says is that how can we know in
advance the consequences of an action There
are many factors that might determine the
way in which the consequences might move So
there is no way in which we can ever know
all the consequences of our action
So he rejects utilitarianism and deontologism
and more precisely Kantionism when we talk
about Nietzsche We have already seen that
Kantion framework emphasises on duty and intention
or motive of an action The intention of an
action is more important for Kant more than
its consequences and also one’s duty towards
others are important
So what he says here is that we cannot consider
the intention of an action important because
we can never know the intentions of any other
human being and Uhh even never own intentions
are unknown and uncertain to us So there is
a certain reference to a kind of unconscious
mind which later on we would see Freud has
developed in the European intellectual tradition
Freud was referenced by Nietzsche considerably
So he refers to that intention the conscious
intentions of man which we are not aware of
So there is no way in which human beings can
ever be aware of even his own intentions Then
how can we talk about how can we consider
intentions as a criteria in determining the
moral value of an action Then again virtue
ethics There are no absolute virtues
See virtue ethics we have to mention here
an important point because as far as the Greek
philosophical frameworks or the Greek philosophers
are concerned or the Greek intellectual tradition
in general is concerned Nietzsche evaluates
the Greeks as superior to contemporary to
the modern European thinkers The Greeks he
thought were really superior than the modern
19th century European thinkers and the Greeks
were concerned about virtue
The kind of ethics which ancient Greek philosophers
were developing which was based on the concept
of virtue he was way to accept that to a very
great extent but for him he is not ready to
accept virtues Rather he redefines the concept
of virtue He would say that virtue is virtue
Any sort of excellence is a virtue If you
understand in that sense Nietzsche has no
problem in accepting the perspective of virtue
ethics
But as we know some philosophers particularly
like Plato and Aristotle the virtue ethics
leads to a kind of Eudaimonism as well so
which Nietzsche might find problematic to
accept in the sense in which those philosophers
have understood it
But again Nietzsche when it comes to virtues
he affirms natural virtues He attacks supernatural
virtues which christian and other religious
traditions are advocating which he calls derived
virtues and again he is against this charity
and democracy He is against utilitarianism
and Kantianism and he concludes his moral
perspective concludes in the concept of Superman
or power man which we will be discussing here
Now in this context Nietzsche proposes an
important theory an important concept the
re as I mentioned in the beginning of this
lecture evaluation of values As I mentioned
in the beginning of this lecture Nietzsche
is not a complete nihilist Nietzsche does
not reject all value Rather he only says that
we have to find new values So he proposes
a kind of revaluation of values and find their
real worth
So he is not a nihilist does not reject all
values he proposes a re evaluation of values
where creation of new values also is included
And then again the rejection of christian
values and the unconditional values and with
an affirmation of ancient Greek values is
something which Nietzsche was proposing All
values which are unconditional all values
which seem to be claiming that they have an
authority a kind of supernatural authority
like Christianity and other major religious
traditions he rejects
But the kind of values which the Greeks were
trying to propose advocate he was ready to
accept And here he emphasises on personality
and character and not on principle Here also
he comes very close to the Greeks The Greeks
also went emphasised on values they were emphasising
actually on character the personality and
character of people And Nietzsche is also
ready to do that
And it is in this context the concept of overman
and all other related theories were developed
And again he is the Greeks and their morality:
Homeric Gods are not divine masters as creators
as ChristianityGod is See in Christianity
which is the major European religion what
happens is that the concept of God they have
is a concept of Creator God who is the ultimate
master and his commands have to be obeyed
without any exception without questioning
them
So all of us are slaves of that god So Nietzsche
complains that Christianity is a religion
is propagating a kind of slave morality because
it makes all human beings slaves to God God
is the ultimate master but if you compare
the ancient Greek religion with Christianity
you would find that the Greek gods the Homeric
gods were not divine masters They are not
just human beings who excel they are just
copies I mean they represent our own virtues
our own values at a higher level
And then he presents his philosophy of the
Ubermensh or the Overman where by the rejection
of morals that prevent the will to power he
talks about a concept called will to power
which we will explain now He says that all
morality all ethics ultimately prevent the
expression of the will to power which is actually
the principle of life the very principle of
(that) life that guide human beings the real
human progress the principle that guides real
human progress
And every religious tradition every ethics
every moral framework prevent this will to
power from excelling and the re evaluation
of values is performed in this context where
he proposes one has to go beyond the morality
of the good and evil It is the morality of
good and evil All traditional morality is
a morality of good and evil So this dichotomy
is presented in the very beginning itself
It says that certain things are good and certain
things are bad One should not do certain things
Thy shall not the classical Biblical commandments
One should not do certain things and one has
to do certain things So between these 2 human
morality is locked in So Nietzsche opposes
this very dichotomy and says that one has
to reject this morality of good and evil and
go beyond the very concepts of good and evil
What is valuable according to him So when
we talk about ethics we have to actually talk
about value So what is valuable So here he
seems to be proposing a teleological conception
of human nature which is very similar to what
Aristotle and Plato and many others have proposed
They also had a teleological conception So
Nietzsche also proposes a teleological conception
where he says that all human beings have a
final purpose a higher goal to achieve which
is the basis of all norms
So there should be or there is a higher goal
and we should lead our lives we should do
all actions in our life which would ultimately
lead us to this higher goal And the final
cause or the natural end is a complete life
lived according to instinct and natural wisdom
This is the life which is lived according
to natural wisdom instead of getting guided
by theories of morality and religious ethics
So this is what he proposes The purpose of
all instincts and drives is to move us towards
a complete fully human existence This notion
of complete fully human existence is this
teleology One has to reach that stage And
what prevents one from reaching that stage
and how to reach that stage The answer is
very simple We can reach that stage only by
exercising our will to power
And what prevents us from reaching that stage
It is the ethics and morality the moral framework
proposed by religious traditions as well as
Christianity and other religions So one has
to overcome the temptation of following these
religious traditions because most of the religious
traditions advocate a kind of morality which
he terms as a slave morality
Then again morality is not a science It does
not deal with something which is given to
us It does not deal with any facts in the
world There are no moral facts Morality has
been based on obedience So again he takes
us to consider the very nature of morality
as it is presented to us by traditional philosophical
schools as well as religious traditions
Morality has been based on the concept of
obedience represented by the herd instinct
of obedience and the thou shalt the Biblical
commandments once not do certain things So
there is this herd instinct he talks a lot
about These herd the herd behaviour or the
common behaviour is where one become part
of the herd one becomes part of the group
One ceases to be an individual
And the moment one ceases to be an individual
there is no possibility of individual development
Then one’s story is written by someone else
We have to just leave a story with someone
else has written for us We have to just dance
according to the tunes of someone else’s
music but once we start exercising our will
to power the story is different
The moment we do that we start living over
own life we start writing over own stories
and we start than Singh according to our own
tunes So this is what Nietzsche was proposing
as a higher moral development of humankind
He makes an analysis an evaluation of the
morality in the 19th century Europe during
his time
At present is herd animal morality The herd
animal morality means you know you become
part of a group You cease to be an individual
You lose your capacity for individual thinking
independent thinking and you just follow what
others do very unreflectively without any
question you do what others do You be part
of the status quo
The advantage is that you are safe because
society will never troubled you The moment
you go against the status quo the moment you
start questioning what is acceptable and accepted
then you start facing troubles So the 19th
century European morality is a combination
of optimistic belief in scientific progress
and christian morality the christian belief
system So this is dangerous for human excellence
according to him
And modern morality is again as utilitarianism
and Kantian ethics So these are the 2 dominant
ethical traditions of 19th century Europe
They reduce according to Nietzsche the great
passion of living to calculations and difficult
formula which we have seen already because
in Kantionism what happens is that one has
to see what is the right intention whether
one act on the basis of the right intention
whether one’s actions are based on the duty
whether that is the right kind of duty in
that context all these things one has to think
before one acts
And again in utilitarianism what happens is
there again one has to see what are the consequences
whether the action one chooses whether the
course of action one choses is going to lead
us to the right kind of consequences or not
has to be seen So this according to Nietzsche
reduces the passion of living into calculation
and difficult formula The desire for our altruism
is toxic according to him
That is actually not going to help human beings
at all The individual human beings are not
going to benefit anything from being altruistic
rather it is toxic which means that kills
And Uhh utilitarianism Kantionism and christian
morality is weaken the human spirit They will
not help us they will not liberate us morally
They are only going to weaken us They underline
its creative and selfish passions
If that is the case then again he says morality
itself were to blame if the highest over and
splendour possible to write man was never
in fact attained so that morality itself was
the danger of danger So he called this modern
morality the danger of dangers because it
prevents man from attaining high power and
splendour in his life So in that sense it
is toxic and dangerous The morality thoughts
that development of human excellence that
is the highest power and splendour possible
to the type man and it is harmful to life
or more simply anti nature
So when we talk about morality as harmful
to live or anti nature what is life He has
a specific concept of life which we have already
seen that he proposes teleological conception
of life There is a purpose to attain in life
And life according to him is again a quote
life itself is essentially appropriation injury
conquest of the strange and weak suppression
severity obstrusion of particular forms incorporation
and at the least putting it mildest exploitation
These are all the aspects of life which we
try to overcome with the help of morality
That is the irony of life which Nietzsche
was trying to highlight
The normal type of man regards himself as
a determiner of values he is not just a follower
of values Usually you know the common man
is understood to be a follower of values He
is a herd he is part of the herd part of the
group never thinks for himself never acts
for himself but the normal men would always
regards himself as a determiner of values
What is injurious to him what is injurious
to me he considers he thinks is injurious
in itself
He is the creator of new values he is not
just a fall over He honours whatever he recognises
in himself: such morality is self glorification
So Nietzsche proposes a morality of self glorification
by the right exercise of the will to power
And what is this will to power
It is an ever dominant proactive force in
us and feature of life and the basic drive
of humanity Every living creature every living
creature according to Nietzsche has this power
in it The kind of power which enables its
to dominate or enables is to overcome itself
the status quo and go further ever evolve
further develop further So this is the very
principle of life Otherwise things will start
There will not be life but only stagnation
But there is life there is life because there
is a force that present in every creature
that enables us to overcome the status quo
overcome the present what it is now to become
something else to become more than what it
is now and that power is called the will to
power It is present in every creature and
also in human beings
The primitive form of affect and all that
affects are only developments of it So that
is the most primitive drive you can see according
to Nietzsche a kind of a bodily drive a kind
of a a drive which is present in all creatures
Every living thing does everything it can
not to preserve itself but to become more
It is not preservation that is the major concern
of life but to evolve to go beyond and more
and more
And again it is not power over others see
this is something which we have to be very
careful When we talk about will to power there
is the possibility that we might confuse will
to power with power to overpower others or
the power over others It is not It is the
feelings of creative energy and control over
oneself that are necessary to achieve self
creation self direction and to express individual
creativity
It is a power over oneself it is a power to
overcome oneself It is a power to be more
and more than what one is right now To put
it in nutshell it is the power to excel but
whether we are able to exercise this power
and able to excel or not that is the question
And here he says that there are 3 steps he
proposes to excel
How to use the will to power To reject and
rebel against old ideals and moral codes This
is the 1st thing we have to do This is a bit
negative You reject everything So here it
appears to be nihilistic Again next one is
to overcome nihilism and to re evaluate old
ideals or to create new ones this is through
self overcoming So that is a positive stage
and the 3rd stage is take control of one’s
own genealogies and write one’s own stories;
not being a mere herd but being an over man
So that is the 3rd stage So one has to undergo
all the 3 stages in order to attain in order
to satisfy or in order to materialise the
teleology of life And who are the higher men
he is talking about
He says that the higher men are the strongest
richest most independent and most courageous
people Not everyone not every human being
is potential to become the over man Not everyone
can but have at their disposal a great quantum
of power which they can use to overcome themselves
The sovereign individual the higher men are
sovereign individuals they are autonomous
and supermodel They are not affected by the
morality the ethics of the good and evil
The morality of good and evil are not something
which they accepted The morality of good and
evil will never touch them And his mastery
over himself necessarily gives him mastery
also over circumstances and nature and elevates
him above all more short willed and unreliable
creatures To put it in a nutshell an ability
to excel that is what higher men are They
are people who are who have already excelled
And again possess strong will to power and
its rational utilisation They are encountered
in the most widely different places and cultures
It is not that they are confined to one place
or one time they are everywhere and they are
great or higher not as individuals or as members
of certain race or a certain ethnic group
but as examples of a different type of life
So this is what a different type of life
The way they understand themselves the way
they determine to write their own stories
the way they reject the moral traditions that
try to control them all these aspects make
them great and they are nonethnic and non
national This point has to be underlined because
there is a wrong interpretation of Nietzsche
that many people have interpreted Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s work or the Nazis themselves
have interpreted Nietzsche’s work in their
favour
But he is not favouring a kind of racism or
a racial supremacy theory of racial supremacy
but rather he says that such people are only
a type of life they just lead a different
type of life That is it Now in this context
we have to actually a concept called the death
of god which they will not be doing now which
we will do in the next lecture because when
we discuss the concept of existentialist ethics
So we will directly go to the final slide
what is re evaluation What is the spiritual
development or the moral development of man
consisting so that one can elevate oneself
from the stage of the herd to the super man
or the over man So this is what now we are
going to see and we will conclude with this
slide
So here Nietzsche proposes it is a progression
from the camel to the lion and culminating
in the child So these are representative metaphorically
represent the 3 stages of one’s moral group
The camel the camel is an animal which we
find in the desert who goes to the desert
carries a lot of baggage a lot of weight for
its masters never complains never questions
just follow the orders of the master that
is all
The camel walks miles and miles it walks without
any complaint and the camel is the average
man who slavishly bears the load and obeys
the thou shalt with little protest That is
representative of the herd morality That is
the 1st stage And in this stage one is completely
obedient one follow the dictates of the morality
of good and evil and one never exercises one’s
will to power
And when you go to the next page the lion
which is slightly higher higher man who says
no and violently kills the status quo of thou
shalt this is the stage of nihilism Here what
happens is that this here it is a negative
assertion The lion represents the man who
refuses to accept the status quo He is a nihilist
He goes against the accepted morality
So he seems to be a nihilist and immoral but
the problem with this stage is that one encounters
a huge vacuum here because one is familiar
with the world of morality and one rejects
that world and now faces a vacuum There is
no morality So one is to replace that vacuum
or rather fill that vacuum with another morality
So one has to discover one’s own morality
That is the 3rd stage the child or the Superman
who says an emphatic yes emphatic and sacred
yes to life and creates a new reality and
a New World a New World of values He is the
creator of values So this is the last stage
which one has to reach the creator of values
So Nietzschean ethics in that way as all of
us know Nietzsche adopts a genealogical approach
He historically analyses ethics What he says
is that the moral traditions of man can be
summarised as a morality of good and evil
And this has not taken man to anything higher
than what he is So the inability of man in
attaining a higher existence owes primarily
because of these moral traditions because
he follows the moral traditions And morality
and religion are responsible for preventing
man from attaining the higher possibilities
and potentialities of his life and exercising
the will to power
So one has to go beyond that assert one’s
own morality reinvent one’s own morality
and create one’s own morality So this is
what he seems to be proposing So the next
lecture which we are going to discuss will
have will cover the contributions of the existentialists
where we will see Nietzsche has been a perennial
influence So we will see that in the Lex lecture
For the time being we will wind up thank you
