Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter
109 explained
A brief aphorism exploring the psychology of the criminal, suggesting that criminals often lack the psychological stature to fully own their actions, instead diminishing or slandering the deed after the fact.
What happens
A brief aphorism exploring the psychology of the criminal, suggesting that criminals often lack the psychological stature to fully own their actions, instead diminishing or slandering the deed after the fact.
Themes in this chapter
Psychology as the Fundamental Science
The excerpt is a psychological observation about the internal state of the criminal, analyzing the disconnect between action and self-perception, which is core to Nietzsche's psychological method.
Key passages
“The criminal is often enough not equal to his deed: he extenuates and maligns it.”
A person who commits a crime frequently lacks the psychological strength to fully accept responsibility for it; they instead try to make it seem less serious or speak ill of the act itself.
Highlights a psychological weakness or failure of character, where the doer cannot match the magnitude of their own action.