Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter
Our Virtues? explained
Nietzsche questions the nature of modern European virtues, contrasting them with the 'sincere and massive' virtues of previous generations.
What happens
Nietzsche questions the nature of modern European virtues, contrasting them with the 'sincere and massive' virtues of previous generations. He suggests contemporary virtues are aligned with secret inclinations like curiosity, disguising, and a 'mellow cruelty,' and must be sought in the labyrinth of the self. He notes a lingering connection to the past through the concept of a 'good conscience,' which he metaphorically describes as a pigtail, but predicts its imminent end.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Modernity
Analyzes the transformed, more psychological and disguised virtues of modern Europeans, contrasting them with the 'sincere' virtues of the past.
Psychology as the Fundamental Science
Virtues are sought in the 'labyrinths' of the self, tied to 'secret and heartfelt inclinations,' framing morality as a psychological exploration.
Characters to notice
- Europeans
Addressed as 'we Europeans of the day after tomorrow,' characterized by dangerous curiosity, multifariousness, art of disguising, and mellow cruelty.
- The Narrator
Speaks collectively as a modern European, analyzing the shift in virtues and the psychological inheritance from grandfathers.
Key passages
“We Europeans of the day after tomorrow... with all our dangerous curiosity, our multifariousness and art of disguising, our mellow and seemingly sweetened cruelty in sense and spirit—we shall presumably, if we must have virtues, have those only which have come to agreement with our most secret and heartfelt inclinations”
Modern Europeans possess complex, hidden drives like curiosity and a refined cruelty. Our virtues, if we have any, are not traditional but are shaped by these deep psychological needs.
Defines the modern European character and the source of its morality.
“this 'believing in one’s own virtues'—is it not practically the same as what was formerly called one’s 'good conscience,' that long, respectable pigtail of an idea, which our grandfathers used to hang behind their heads... we last Europeans with good consciences: we also still wear their pigtail.”
The modern belief in one's own virtues is essentially the old concept of a 'good conscience.' We are the last to inherit this outdated moral appendage, though we imagine ourselves to be advanced.
Identifies a hypocritical continuity with past morality beneath the surface of modernity.