# 174 explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### The Narrator

Directly addresses and critiques the Utilitarians, revealing a scornful, accusatory tone.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/174
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters