Nietzsche’s Theory of Morality: Noble vs. Slave Morality
Main Idea of Nietzsche’s Text
Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) text summarizes his theory on the origin of moral values. According to Nietzsche, moral values, as we know them, arise from resentment. This is a reactive movement by the weak, those who are incapable of creating their own true moral values and a “triumphant yes to oneself.” Instead, they are confined to denying the values of others (those with a noble morality). Resentment, the “no,” the inability to create authentic values, would be the origin of the reactive process leading to the morality of slaves. One is a slave because, ultimately, there is no capacity (value) to be creative.
Two Concepts of Morality in Nietzsche’s Text
This text clearly presents two opposing moral models. In Nietzschean nomenclature, we call them noble morality and slave morality. Noble morality, the “yes,” that is “born of a triumphant yes to oneself,” is opposed to the slave’s conception of the world. As the text says, slave morality “says no, as input, to an ‘outside,’ to ‘another,’ a ‘not-self.'”
True morality, in fact, is noble morality: the “yes,” action, the creator of values. Precisely what Nietzsche denounces in the other model of morality is its inability to enact its own rule, to create its own models of conduct. The slave simply rejects what the noble does, and from this rejection, makes a moral norm.
From this mechanism of rejection will emerge, according to Nietzsche, the fundamental values of morality that ended up triumphing in the Western world. We can identify these with Socratic, Platonic, and Christian morality. These moral codes are based on the apology of weakness, not because they feel that weakness is really good, but because fear is the characteristic pattern of those who defend this moral behavior.
The moral contrast between the two models used by the German philosopher allows us to detect the origin of morality. In the stage of noble morality, there is a descriptive identification between goodness and strength on the one hand, and between evil and weakness on the other. The world is not divided into “good” and “bad” from a moral point of view, but rather between the creators, those who love life (good), and those who denigrate it, the nihilistic, and want to subordinate ideas.
The “noble” is not afraid and can say “yes” to life. In other words, nobility is a stage in which “morality” is not even a concept, much less a theory. In this stage, where we cannot say that there are still moral judgments but mere descriptions of nature, there must have been a transition to an inversion (perversion) of identities. This inversion would have led to our conception of virtue associated with weakness and sin associated with the exercise of force. Moral suffering (repressive, unable to make us happy) would be born from the repression of life.
Relevance of Nietzsche’s Ideas Today
The validity of this text is complete if we consider that its intention is primarily to give us an interpretation that sheds light on our conception of moral values. In this regard, while our concept is still rooted in Christian morality, which suppresses the body and makes us feel guilty for the pleasure we enjoy, Nietzsche’s text continues to be highly suggestive. At the very least, the text offers two reasons for reflection. Firstly, Nietzsche invites us to consider to what extent “doing theory” consoles us for our inability to live creatively in a world of changing values.