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 Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 12:45 pm
OK so yesterday i had a very interesting lecture on Nietzsche and morality
What struck me as particularly interesting are Nietzsche's views on guilt
Briefly he believes that guilt oroginated with the concept of debt - from the basic debtor creditor relationship - to be guilty was simply to be indebted.
When religion (Christianity, in particular) develops this concept God becomes the ultimate creditor who can NEVER be repayed. This debt to God has no particular reason
and so the guilt becomes internalised and we become guilty simply for existing as human beings
This is, he believes, how morality became metaphysical, because the guilt now constitutes me.
Neitzsche thinks even atheists hang on to this "regime" of guilt and punishment because it is a good way of giving meaning to life and we get a certain amount of pleasure out of self-cruelty.
What do you think of Nietzsche's account?
Do you think this is still true in todays society?
Are people less guilty about the way they choose to live?
Do people still feel guilty about their natural animal instincts? i.e. about being a human animal?
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 1:26 pm
I would tend to disagree with Nietzsche's view of Guilt. I believe that guilt is not as much about a debt to an outside person, as it is a contradiction to the idea of right and wrong within the person. I think that this is very elequently put in one of my favorite quotes by voltaire. "...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death." This is also why an action can result in guilt for one person, but not another. I think that religions role in guilt is not as much that we are indebted to God, as it is that our religion affects our view of right and wrong, therefore, what we feel guilt about. I hope this makes sense.
_Pearl.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:52 pm
I've never thought of guilt in quite this way, but I suppose it could be construed like that...
debt to someone/something that we have committed a transgression against.
I've noticed in particular the guilt that people feel for existing as humans; however, I don't agree with that load of posh, because I figger that if God (whoever THAT is) didn't want me to be human, he woulda made me something else. Plus, it's total bull to worry about stuff you can't change, like what species you were born into. People, at the bottom of the Caste System of species...? I wouldn't doubt it... but do I think I owe God something because I was born human? Heck nope.
On the surface, guilt being synonymous with debt seems silly... but deeper down, I think I could agree with it. Have to think on it awhile.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:03 pm
I think it is an interesting theory in that he gives an explenation for the guiltiness that ties into religion. But I don't think that not excepting God or being an athiest makes you self destructive i.e. punishing yourself. I do find it a little ironic that people with faith do find guiltiness in their human nature with out remembering that they believe god created them the way they are. And therefor, not being thankful for god's gift, they punish themselves for it.
Human nature just represents our so called "flaws", I always that thought that if we cannot except our flaws and move on, we will never be happy. But that's just me.
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