Nietzsche Ethics

Nietzsche's work On the Genealogy of Morality is themed to the concept of the Master-Slave Morality. Nietzsche explains that there are two types of morality, the master morality as well as the slave morality. The two types are not simply inverses of each other, but two different value schemes.

The first system is the Master Morality system. In this, we have the opposed sides of good and bad. It all begins with the Ð''noble man' who is not equal to the others in which he is near to. A noble man makes decisions for himself because he knows what would be harmful to himself would be bad in itself. He never seeks approval in any notion and foremost is good before being bad. As to say the good act is created first in his or her mind and then a contrasting bad theory is produced in opposition. A noble man act of good would be considered strong and powerful, whereas the bad act would be weak or cowardly.

One time at work I remember my boss acted in a manner which resembles a master morality. He decided that I would be beneficial to the company to change some of the prices they charged for standard parts and labor without consulting anyone else. He did it purely out of the good of making sure we were profitable and were covering our own costs efficiently.

Our second system of moral theory is the Slave Morality. The Slave Morality starts in individuals who are weak, abused, oppressed or even unsure of themselves. They use the descriptors of good and evil to describe their own actions. The slaves are scarce in number compared to the powerful noble men and therefore think of evil actions first. Then they formulate a contrasting good theory to combat the original. This is inverse to the way in which the Master Morality works, and one of the main differences.

I can remember a time back when I was a young boy that mimics the slave morality. I was walking down the hall in my elementary school and found a dollar laying on the floor next to my locker. I then picked it up and my first instinct was to pocket the dollar and spend it the following day at the snack line. Then my mind began to think, wait, maybe this isn't what I should do with this treasure I had found, maybe this belongs to someone. Eventually my mind made me do the right thing and in the end I gave the dollar to my teacher who found its rightful owner.