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1 results

  • Chapter 3 - The genealogy of guilt

  • Edited by Simon May, King's College London
  • Book:
    Nietzsche's <I>On the Genealogy of Morality</I>
    Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    13 October 2011, pp 56-77

  • Summary

    The second essay of On the Genealogy of Morality ostensibly develops an account of the origins of the feeling of guilt, which is marked by the appearance of tight conceptual cohesion: the essay begins with an analysis of the concept of conscience, proceeds to an examination of bad conscience, and concludes with a view of moral bad conscience, or guilt itself, with an emphasis throughout the essay on the crucial influence of socialization. Nietzsche begins his investigation with an examination of the concept of "conscience". Nietzsche's inquiry then proceeds to an examination of the concept of "indebtedness" because guilt and indebtedness bear a close etymological connection: the German word for guilt - Schuld - also means debt, or indebtedness. The origin of bad conscience lies in what Nietzsche calls "the internalization of man". Nietzsche's genealogy of Christian guilt exposes it as a rational passion, or a "madness of the will".