Friday, March 20, 2015
What's Really "Good"?
I think that Nietzsche brings up some very valid and interesting points in his first essay pertaining to what is good and evil. He makes the argument that what is "good" is decided by those in power because they have the authority over thoughts and actions of the common people. This is something I have never thought about and it makes sense to me what he is saying. Doesn't it make sense that many, many years ago "good" was decided by those that were in a position of power and that they decided what should be perceived as good to their citizens? And that perhaps now our perception of "good" is polluted from those in power deciding for themselves what "good" is over hundreds and hundreds of years? Nietzsche even goes as far to show the similarities in the roots of the words "good" and "bad". He says that the word "good" derives from the same roots as "powerful", "masters", and "rich". This is unbelievable support for the argument that he is making of morality. I don't necessarily agree with all of Nietzsche's arguments, but this one really made me ponder; what if what we think is "good" isn't in reality? What if what we think is "good" is actually just what someone else wants us to believe is "good"? That is a scary thought.
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I agree and it is a complicated thought to wrap your head around. What you may normally think of as being good, you may have to really think twice and make sure you are making decisions true to what you believe, not society or those in power.
ReplyDeleteYes, Austin, you are right, this is an interesting and disturbing thought.And isn't that what is really happening, others decide what is good for the weak or the people not in a position of power ? It is something to think about and to be aware of and opens your eyes to the idea of good and those making decisions for us,
ReplyDeleteI like the point that you have made about what is actually good. I think that is why we have certain classes in school like contemporary moral issues or world religions so we can learn about what is the definition of good in other cultures or religions or countries. We ultimately have a decision to what we think is "good". Of course though, you are going to have certain countries who won't even allow that type of education to be circulated in their land so people living in those countries might have a misconstrued view of what is good; they only know "good" to be what their authorities tell them it is.
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