Locke's Influence On Nietzche

In the second essay of the Genealogy, “’Guilt’, ‘Bad Conscience’, and the Like’”, Nietzsche begins by talking about basic human characteristics, and rationally builds up to an explanation of humans’ internal conflicts. Part of this essay, as stated by its title, contains Nietzsche’s hypothesis on the origin of Guilt.

Nietzsche, at the beginning of the second essay, refers to huma

Since people have the need to understand their past in a chronological way, they also want to predict and give structure to the future- the cliché phrase, “Creatures of Habit”, comes to mind. According to Nietzsche, Man has become “calculable, regular, and necessary” (Genealogy, Second Essay, Section 1), which, he says, is the basis for Man’s right to make promises. Man’s awareness of this right is the logical basis of responsibility. Since humans make promises to other humans, there has to be some sort of universality to this right. This means that every person who makes a promise has to feel somewhat responsible for keeping it.

Thus far, humans had produced their own memory and conscience. How does Nietzsche explain this? His theories of human evolution are based mostly on violence. First, he uses a phrase from old psychology to summarize his point: “If something is to stay in the memory it must be burned in: only that which never ceases to hurt stays in the memory.” (Genealogy, Second Essay, Section 3) He exemplifies the quote, mentioning sacrifices and pledges, mutilations, and religious rites. Basically, the easiest way for Man to give himself memory was to inflict pain. “Pain is the most powerful aid to mnemonics.” (Genealogy, Second Essay, Section 3) Since humans’ first memories were of pain, they would associate the pain with certain actions. Like Pavlov’s Dogs, humans would agree to promises based upon the consequences of fulfilling them. This association, Nietzsche says, was the birth of reason, which coincided with Man’s development of conscience.

When humans were not ashamed of their cruelty, they celebrated it. According to Nietzsche, people invented gods as spectators to their festive violence. “The gods conceived of as the friends of cruel spectacles”. (Genealogy, Second Essay, Section 7) The Greeks offered their gods sacrifices- they tortured other people for the gods’ amusement. Greek philosophers imagined the “eyes of God looking down upon the moral struggle”. (Genealogy, Second Essay, Section 7) The philosophers also thought that self-torture and self-sacrifice was heroic, and that it pleased the gods as well. Eventually, Greek values translated into Christian morals: people began to look down upon cruelty, and praised only self-torture and restriction. Although these values had changed, the idea of the gods “witnessing” human struggles stayed the same. Nietzsche believes that the Jewish-Christ

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