Page 124 - Eclipse of God

Religion and Ethics 97

Insofar as Nietzsche’s critique of morals remains in the histor-
ical sphere, it can be understood objectively, though Nietzsche
himself was, of course, far from so understanding it, as a mod-
ification of Marx’s doctrine of ideologies. He too saw historical
morals as the expression and instruments of the power struggle
between ruling and oppressed classes, only also from the side of
the latter. It is on this side, the “slave morality,” which he un-
derstands Christianity to be, that he particularly fixes his atten-
tion. Underlying this conception of the historical appearance
of moralities is his view of the genesis of values, according to
which values and their transformations stand “in relationship
to the growth of the power of the setter of values.” Underlying
this view, in turn, is the methaphysical conception that the life
of the spirit, like all life, can be reduced to the single principle
of the “will to power.” But now Nietzsche executes a singular
reversal. The “slave morality,” which turns against the will to
power, is identified with morality as a whole, as if the “master
morality,” of which Nietzsche approves, did not exist at all.
On the one hand, he proclaims a biologically- based moral-
ity. “I teach negation of all that weakens. I teach affirmation of
all that strengthens.” But on the other hand, he explains that
scepticism of all morality is that which is decisive and our age
is that of the decline of the moral interpretation of the world.
This decline will end in nihilism, which he himself professes.
This means that “the highest values lose their value” so that
now a goal for existence is wanting. Nihilism shall now, how-
ever, be overcome through creating a goal “which will remain
poised above mankind and above the individual.” This means
that a new goal, a new meaning of existence and a new value,
are set by Nietzsche’s teaching of the Superman. He has not
noticed, to be sure, that all this is already basically abrogated
through his other teaching, that of the eternal return of the