Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter
174 explained
A brief, direct address to Utilitarians, accusing them of hypocrisy.
What happens
A brief, direct address to Utilitarians, accusing them of hypocrisy. The narrator claims they only value utility as a means to fulfill their own desires and find the practical 'noise' of its application unbearable.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Modernity
Targets Utilitarianism as a modern moral and social doctrine, questioning the sincerity of its adherents and their discomfort with the practical consequences of their own theory.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Directly addresses and critiques the Utilitarians, revealing a scornful, accusatory tone.
Key passages
“Ye Utilitarians—ye, too, love the utile only as a vehicle for your inclinations—ye, too, really find the noise of its wheels insupportable!”
You Utilitarians are hypocrites. You claim to champion utility, but you only use it as a tool to serve your own personal desires, and you can't stand the actual, noisy reality of putting it into practice.
A concise, polemical accusation of bad faith against a specific philosophical school.