Genealogy PDF Play Books

Nietzsche claims that after reading his friend Paul Rée's book The Origin of the Moral Sensations (1877), where he found the "genealogical hypotheses" put forth there to be unsatisfying, he became inspired to publish his own "hypotheses" on the origins of morality.

Nietzsche came to the conclusion that "moral principles need to be critiqued" and "the worth of these values itself must be questioned." Instead of a hypothetical description in the manner of Rée, whom Nietzsche characterises as a "English psychologist," Nietzsche offers a history of morality in order to achieve this.

In his "First Treatise," Nietzsche argues that the roots of the opposing pairs of concepts "good/evil" and "good/bad" are radically different, and that the concept "good" itself has come to stand for two opposing ideas. In the "good/bad" binary of the aristocratic way of thinking, "good" stands for nobility and everything that is strong and life-affirming; "bad" has no accusatory connotations and simply refers to the "common" or "low" and the traits and ideals associated with them, in contrast to the warrior ethos of the ruling nobility (3). The divide between "good" and "evil," which Nietzsche refers to as "slave morality," makes "good" the antithesis of the original aristocratic "good," which is then renamed "evil."