Morality is an important issue in the modern society. Lacewing (1) wrote that morality defines what is right and what is wrong with regard to our relationships as human beings. In his theme on morality, Nietzsche identified two types of morality; these are master morality and slave morality. His argument was based on the belief that in the society, morality has historical foundations and the two components have evolved and mixed up in advanced civilization. The distinction between the two classes of morality as articulated by Nietzsche is discussed below.
Nietzsche referred to master morality as morality of the ruling class or superior individuals (Sleinis 266). This morality is distinguished by the scale used in determining the instance of morality which is either good or bad. His assertion regarding this type of morality was that the society should naturally allow the ruling class to showcase their ability and dominance over the weaker class. In master morality, the individuals are responsible for the determination of values that define helpful things (good) and those that are not (bad).
Slave morality, on the other hand, is manifested by the inferior or weaker individuals in the society who derive their moral principles from those determined by superior individuals. In this type of morality, Nietzsche argued that the rational used to scale is evil or good (Lacewing). Individuals in this class exhibit the evil trait but lack what is good as determined by master morality. Since its focus is to relieve suffering, it advocates for such traits as pity, humility and patience.
One can infer from Nietzsche’s master-slave morality ideology that there exist different classes of people. They include the superior class, which is identified by master morality, and the inferior class that is associated with slave morality. In master morality, man determines the good and bad, while slave morality constitutes the bad aspect of master morality.
References
Lacewing, Michael. Nietzsche on Master and Slave Morality, Routledge, n.d. Web. 22 October,
Sleinis, Edgar. . Nietzsche. The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 2003, 1 pp.266-276. Web. 22
October, 2012.
