Good=Evil, Bad=Good

Nietzsche begins this section by revisiting the concept he brought up previously regarding the origin of good and bad. Both the concepts of good and bad came from the nobles, bad more as an afterthought, according to Nietzsche. Good was what the nobles did and bad seemed to be everything the nobles didn’t do or what the commoners were said to do. Nietzsche then proposes that there is a difference between bad and evil. Evil being the “good” that the nobles’ actions were considered and bad being what the nobles didn’t do. Therefore it is the nobles’ who are evil. Nietzsche furthers this argument by comparing the nobles to barbarians, or beasts of prey. He asserts that due to the social constraints placed upon nobles and the confinement and enclosure that seems to come from these constraints, these ‘beasts of prey’ often break out, “prowling about avidly in search of spoil and victory.” Nietzsche presents another concept regarding repression and the meaning of all culture. He says that if the meaning of all culture is to tame the beast of prey (the nobles) into a domestic animal, those who aided in the overthrow of the nobles would be driven by some sort of resentment, born from the repression they felt under these said nobles. Nietzsche asserts that slave morality has made society insipid and mediocre. In section thirteen, Nietzsche comments on the repression of characteristics. He asserts that demanding one to not express one’s strengths or weaknesses is absurd. In his example, Nietzsche discusses that birds of prey are considered evil by lambs they attack; however, it would be ridiculous to ‘ask’ them not to kill lambs as it would be demanding that they not express their strength. The birds of prey are their expression of strength and the lambs ‘asking’ the birds not to kill would be equivalent to asking the birds not to exist. In section fourteen, Nietzsche discusses slave morality and the praise that those who are powerless and too weak to seek reprisal deserve. These are the people who leave judgment to God. Nietzsche discusses Christianity and argues that resentment and hatred are actually ‘Christian love.'