Nietzsche's_Attack_to_Absolutist_Morality

How does Nietzsche’s general approach to morals attack the absolutist understanding of values/ethics' The first essay ‘Good and Evil’, ‘Good and Bad’ centers on what Nietzsche calls “master morality” and “slave morality”. Master morality was developed by the free, healthy and strong. Slave morality was developed by those who are weak, enslaved and unhealthy. They call their master evil and called themselves good in contrast. With this distinction, Nietzsche went on to make a difference between a thing and its meaning. For him, we won’t be able to understand a thing if we assume that it has always held the same meaning. Thus, the meanings of things change over time. We must also take note that a thing has meaning because there is some will dominating it and bending it toward a certain interpretation. According to Nietzsche, then, a belief in an absolute truth is to give in to one particular meaning, one particular interpretation of a thing. It is a fact that we consider morality as sacred because we assume that there is some superior being who imposed them to us. This is what Nietzsche attacks. He wants to have a new approach in dealing with morality. He questions the value of morality and to be consistent with the idea of the “Übermensch”, he does not align himself with any system of morals. Nietzsche argues that our present system of morality is born out of resentment and hatred that was felt toward anything that was powerful, strong or healthy. As an example, Nietzsche gives the Judeo-Christian morality as a proponent of slave morality. Take a look at the Beatitudes in the gospel of Matthew 5:3-12 which is also called the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for they shall be filled.” (New International Version) They clearly advocate weakness, despise wealth and renounce this world. There is also a promise of afterlife and there is no emphasis on the self or the present. Take a look at what is written in the gospel of Luke 6:24-26: “Woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full now for you shall hunger and those who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep.” These beatitudes renounce things which are considered by the masters as good, beautiful and useful for human life. Thus, we can say that Nietzsche despises slave morality because it devalues life and hatred brings our attention away from ourselves and from the present so we become less creative, less assertive and less motivated. It creates people who are no longer driven to improve themselves because they are holding on to blind faith. And faith, according to Christopher Hitchens, is the surrender of reason, the surrender of the mind, which is the only thing that makes us different from animals. This kind of morality is unhealthy for the development of every society because it makes people insipid and dull. People have become submissive and forgot to use their reason because they believe that there will be redemption for them, that someone will come to bring them to the promised paradise where there’s no death, hunger and imperfections. This is a disrespect to the only life that we got so let us be reminded to affirm our actual nature through willpower, not try to create some Church-made identity which limits one’s personal development. Nietzsche just wanted to scrutinize our existing morality because the Judeo-Christian morality is poisoning our humanity. He hoped that we might have a broader perspective by seeing morality not as some eternal absolute, but rather as something that has evolved.