MEME : History of Master-slave Morality

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~~'''Every Roman was surrounded by slaves.''' The slave and his psychology flooded ancient Italy, and every Roman became inwardly, and of course unwittingly, a slave. Because living constantly in the atmosphere of slaves, he became infected through the unconscious with their psychology. '''[Wiki:Emotional_contagion No one can shield himself from such an influence].'''--C.G. Jung, ''Contributions to Analytical Psychology,'' 1928~~

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~~~Imported and edited from [Wikipedia:Master-slave_morality Wikipedia] on 2009-12-14.~~~

++Find:Nietzsche argued that there were two fundamental types of morality: '''Master morality''' and '''slave morality'''. Master morality weighs actions on a scale of good or bad ''consequences'' unlike slave morality which weighs actions on a scale of good or evil ''intentions.''++

In the prehistoric state, "the value or non-value of an action was derived from its consequences"~~[1]~~ but ultimately, "There are no moral phenomena at all, only moral interpretations of phenomena."~~[2]~~ For these strong-willed men, the 'good' is the noble, strong and powerful, while the 'bad' is the weak, cowardly, timid and petty. The essence of master morality is ''nobility.'' Other qualities that are often valued in master moralities are open-mindedness, courage, truthfulness, trust and [Wikipedia:Superiority_complex an <u>accurate</u> sense of self-worth].

== Master morality ==

Nietzsche defined master morality as the morality of the strong-willed. Master morality begins in the 'noble man' with a spontaneous idea of the good, then the idea of bad develops as what is not good. "The noble type of man experiences ''itself'' as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honour to things; it is ''value-creating."''~~[3]~~ In this sense, the master morality is the full recognition that ''oneself'' is the measure of all things. Insomuch as something is helpful to the strong-willed man it is like what he values in himself; therefore, the strong-willed man values such things as 'good'. '''Masters are creators of morality; slaves respond to master-morality with their slave-morality.'''

== Slave morality ==

Unlike master morality which is ''sentiment,'' slave morality is literally ''re-sentiment''--revaluing that which the master values. This strays from the valuation of actions based on consequences to the valuation of actions based on "intention".~~[4]~~ As master morality originates in the strong, slave morality originates in the weak. Because slave morality is a reaction to oppression, it villainizes its oppressors. Slave morality is the inverse of master morality. As such, it is characterized by pessimism and skepticism. Slave morality is created in opposition to what master morality values as 'good'. Slave morality does not aim at exerting one's will by strength but by careful subversion. It does not seek to [Deoxy:cea.htm transcend the masters], but to make them slaves as well.

[Deoxy:8brains.htm#evolve Since the powerful are few in number compared to the masses of the weak], the weak gain power by corrupting the strong into believing that the causes of slavery (viz., the will to power) are 'evil', as are the qualities they originally could not choose because of their weakness. By saying humility is voluntary, slave morality avoids admitting that their humility was in the beginning forced upon them by a master. Biblical principles of turning the other cheek, humility, charity, and pity are the result of universalizing the plight of the slave onto all humankind, and thus enslaving the masters as well.

== Society ==

This struggle between master and slave moralities recurs historically. According to Nietzsche, ancient Greek and Roman societies were grounded in master morality. The Homeric hero is the strong-willed man, and the classical roots of the ''[http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html Iliad]'' and ''[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 Odyssey]'' exemplified Nietzsche's master morality. He calls the heroes "men of a noble culture"~~[5]~~, giving a substantive example of master morality. Historically, master morality was defeated as [Deoxy:chrimagi.htm the slave morality of Christianity] spread throughout the Roman Empire.

'''Weakness conquered strength, slave conquered master, re-sentiment conquered sentiment.''' This resentment Nietzsche calls "priestly vindictiveness", which is the jealousy of the weak seeking to enslave the strong with itself. Such movements were, to Nietzsche, inspired by "the most intelligent revenge" of the weak. Nietzsche saw [Deoxy:demorep.htm democracy] and Christianity as the same emasculating impulse which sought to make all equal—to make all slaves.

Nietzsche, however, did not believe that humans should adopt master morality as the be-all-end-all code of behavior--he - he believed that the revaluation of morals would correct the inconsistencies in both master and slave morality--but - but simply that master morality was preferable to slave morality, although this is debatable. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kaufmann_(philosopher) Walter Kaufmann] disagrees that Nietzsche actually preferred master morality to slave morality. He certainly gives slave morality a much harder time, but this is partly because he believes that slave morality is modern society's more imminent danger.

== References ==

#Nietzsche, Friedrich (1973). ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm Beyond Good and Evil].'' London: Penguin Books. p. 62.

#Nietzsche, Friedrich (1973). ''Beyond Good and Evil.'' London: Penguin Books. p. 96.

#Nietzsche, Friedrich (1967). ''[http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/Nietzsche/genealogytofc.htm On The Genealogy of Morals].'' New York: Vintage Books. p. 39.

#Nietzsche, Friedrich (1973). ''Beyond Good and Evil.'' London: Penguin Books. p. 63.

#Nietzsche, Friedrich (1973). ''Beyond Good and Evil.'' London: Penguin Books. p. 153.

== Related ==

*[Deoxy:8basic.htm The Eight Basic Scripts]

*[Deoxy:raw1.htm Emotional-territorial grid]

*[Deoxy:philo.htm philosophos]

*[Deoxy:l_acid.htm Acid]

*Meme:Tong

== Topics ==

*[Deoxy:index/Consciousness Consciousness]

*[Deoxy:index/Declarations Declarations]

*[Deoxy:index/Revolutionary Revolutionary]