Nietzsche and the Ascetic Ideal

Layne Johnson Dr. Scott Austin PHIL 251-502 December 6, 2011 Nietzsche and the Ascetic Ideal According to Friedrich Nietzsche in his third essay of “On the Genealogy of Morals” the ascetic ideal is nothing more than a false sense of moral codes and boundaries set to fill what would be an otherwise void part of the human mind. Nietzsche believes that any true philosopher will reject the notion of ascetic ideals as a creation of the misguided masses of society.

He believed that to make sense of the world around us we must make a set of codes of ethics to create a more simple and easily understood picture of our universe, because we cannot cope with the vast nothingness of reality. However, is there a possibility that the supposedly “created” morality is nothing less than an integral part of who and what we are? Nietzsche’s “Genealogy of Morals” is a call to erase the restraint of these “Ascetic Ideals,” but if we are to remove all our morals and values based on ascetic ideals, what values then can we base our morals on or can there be any morality in a world where these ideals are removed?

One of Nietzsche’s main focuses in “The Genealogy of Morals” is the meaning and impact of ascetic ideals and morality on western culture, and what Nietzsche wants to know is what is the reason humanity has created these Ideals? In the previous essays he had assessed what makes something ‘good or bad’ and the cause of the human ‘conscience’, determining that both were merely concepts brought about by ones culture. He wants to know what it is that developed this ideology in our cultures, and of course he gets his answer in the Ascetic Ideals.

To understand what it is Nietzsche wants and why it is he believes that it is so important we must first know what he is talking about in the first place. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary “ascetic” is defined as, “Practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline. ”(Webster) So an “ascetic ideal” refers to a set of personal rules and boundaries set up by that persons set of personal beliefs.

Nietzsche puts it as, “something like an instinctive sense for the preconditions favorable to a higher spirituality. ” (Nietzsche 77) “The Genealogy of Morals” was written during a time of great change throughout the western world. With the recent inventions of widespread electricity and the telephone, and the widespread use of the steam locomotive and telegraph, the world was becoming smaller. Industrialization had brought more attention to the importance of science and technology and had also belittled the church and its once dominant part in the world. Montagna) Nietzsche believed that science had effectively killed god, in that we no longer required a set of morals based on a “god” figure. Nietzsche wanted to completely remove any precursors of morals derived from, what he considered nothingness [god]. Nietzsche does not hesitate to divulge into what he perceives to be the problems of “ascetic ideals” spending a majority of his third essay completely on describing why it is the “ascetic ideal” is so corrupt.

Nietzsche list’s several specific impacts the ascetic ideal has had on Western culture including the destruction of: our minds, our health, and our self-confidence. He believed that because of the limits and boundaries set upon us by our society we have been constrained and thus have lost confidence in ourselves and our abilities saying, “there is reason enough […] for our inability […] to shake off a degree of mistrust towards ourselves… we are still the victims […] of this moralized taste of the time. (Nietzsche 116) Though it has diminished in the western world since Nietzsche died, the effect that ascetic ideals can have on health is still very visible in the poorer countries of the world where religion and medicine are often synonymous, relying on faith to save them, and throughout history this has had no more effect than to bring up ones hope of a miracle only to have it swept away. Nietzsche 120) Lastly, through the continued integration of the ascetic ideal throughout our society one of the most effected is that of the institution, creating a predetermined stance on what is true making philosophic and scientific breakthroughs difficult at best, as Nietzsche says, “the [Church Fathers] had the temerity to decree: ‘We too have our classical literature, we do not need that of the Greeks. (Nietzsche 121) As Nietzsche investigates the origins of morality, he determines that all ascetic ideals are inherently corrupt as a result of the limitations they impose on humanity; he also determines that it is not merely a broken system that needs to be fixed but rather one that needs to be eradicated. If we are to remove our current system of morals and values then they must be replaced by something new, and to do this we must find a ay to replace something that has been ingrained into our cultural identity for millennia. If we are to remove all preconceptions and assumptions of morality then what can we even possibly begin to base our morals on; in short, where can we find value in a godless world? Nietzsche believes that the idea that we are greater than any beast is simply a continuation of the ascetic ideal. “If we put aside the ascetic ideal, then man, the animal man, has had no meaning up to now.

His existence on earth has lacked a goal: ‘why does man exist at all? ’ – was a question without an answer. ” (Nietzsche 135) As Nietzsche had stated earlier in the text, “man would rather will nothingness than not will at all! ” (Nietzsche 77) It is for this reason that it is so difficult to overcome the notion of an ascetic ideal, because humans need to believe in something to boost our own egotistical belief that we are important and have some sort of long term implication on our world and universe.

Nietzsche believes that it is not morals that should determine what is right and wrong, because morals are a creation of the ascetic ideal; rather like the animals any action that is necessary to one’s survival is deemed a “morally” right act. According to Nietzsche, morality does not need what he calls a “false” foundation in some “god”; rather, morality could be based solely on the intellectual potential of science, history, and criticism. (Nietzsche) How can Nietzsche so naively believe that these things can overcome millennia of traditional morality and ascetic ideals?

For if humanity is so deeply inclined to turn to a fictional belief and purpose, would it not seem that any attempt to overcome this powerful force would be impractical if not impossible? This “irrational faith” that humanity is so unwilling to release is, as described, irrational; no amount of evidence or logic can persuade it. It is for this reason that I believe Nietzsche does not focus on the “how” of his proposition and more importantly on the “why”; Nietzsche does not know how to overcome this because I believe he does not truly understand it.

He does, however, criticize the “idealist philosopher” who’s position is little more than “unbeliever”; and he says, “[their] opposition to this ideal seems to be their very last article of faith” continuing to write, “we ‘seekers after knowledge’ are suspicious of… every kind of believer. ” (Nietzsche 125) In this he makes it clear that to ardently protect atheism is no better than the devoutness of religious, it is even somewhat worse; instead of protecting a belief (including atheism) one must instead seek only the truth.

If Nietzsche wishes to seek truth and only truth then he must be willing to expend the same amount of research for all possibilities, this includes those contrary to his own opinion. Is it not even remotely possible that the reason humans would rather believe in something bigger than themselves than to reject the possibility of any overarching purpose is because there truly is an overarching purpose? If humans were to be no more than animals why is it that we are more willing to fight for our beliefs than for revenge?

As Nietzsche stated, “man would rather will nothingness than not will at all! ” (Nietzsche 77) but perhaps Nietzsche did not respect this fact as much as he should have, because it is very true. Humans have an innate tendency to believe that there is some god-like entity out there that has a plan greater than themselves, and it is the same world over, cultures such as the Aztecs, Inca, Aborigine, and Hawaiian that had never had any contact with the western world for centuries, when discovered by European settlers were found to have very well developed, sophisticated religions.

Though Nietzsche attributes this as weakness in humanity it can just as easily be seen as a huge strength, being able to believe in something you cannot prove can be seen as a great demonstration of trust. Even should the faith be wrong, the laws and values system that has been built out of these ideals have worked to keep peace and sanity to society and cannot be seen as a complete failure. These morals have and continue to give our culture stability and strength, as well as a sense of purpose that continues to allow us to make goals for our future and a reason to attain them.

Morals are important not only to a culture but an individual, without them our world would be chaos and Nietzsche agrees that any society needs a set of guidelines to maintain peace. What he disagrees with is that we are naturally inclined to be moral because our morality is “built into us,” Nietzsche held that natural morality is built on a sense of self-preservation. If this were true then why in the heat of a battle will a soldier risk his own life to save his friend, how does that make any logical sense?

The answer is that it doesn’t; humanities’ naturally social behavior makes us do things all the time that don’t make any sense. In fact when you get down to it human activity doesn’t make much sense at all: we feel pain when we witness another human being hurt (PsyBlog), we spend a majority of our waking life socializing with other humans, and we love one another unconditionally which is perhaps the strangest of all these oddities.

Love has no place in the animal kingdom, it is irrational and detrimental to one’s survival but we do so anyway. Morality is something that is built into us, maybe not as a soul or a conscience, but it is certainly a tangible part of our DNA make up. While reading Nietzsche’s “intellectual” discussion of the “Genealogy of Morals,” though highly intriguing, I found it often difficult to pick out the pieces of his thoughts and postulates amongst what was a near continuous banter against any form of traditional values.

What was even more irksome in my opinion was that for all the disdain and criticism he brought against ascetic ideals there is little on how it is he wished to remove and replace traditional morality. Even within his propositions on how to supplant traditional morality it is still unsure what it is he is proposing. Yet one cannot forget that at the time this work was written this way of thinking was bold and extremely controversial as were many of his works, so he must have felt the need to describe the “why” was much more important than how.

After all, this work is a philosophical work, meaning its sole purpose is to get the public to think of things in a way they had never imagined, to push the boundaries of intellect, and once he had shown them this new perspective. Nietzsche was easily the greatest thinker of his time, certainly one of the greatest philosophers in the history of the western world; he pushed the envelope, daring to ask the questions no one else would. Works Cited Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Douglas Smith.

On the Genealogy of Morals. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print. Standards, Hollywood. “Ascetic – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. ” Dictionary and Thesaurus – Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/ascetic>. Montagna, Joseph A. “81. 02. 06: The Industrial Revolution. ” Yale University. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. <http://yale. edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81. 02. 06. x. html>. “What Is Empathy? — PsyBlog. ” Psychology Studies Relevant to