IX: What Is Noble? explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Nobility and Order of Rank

  The central theme. Nobility is defined by an instinct for rank, reverence, and the 'pathos of distance.' A healthy aristocracy is the foundation for elevating the type 'man,' requiring slavery and the sacrifice of the imperfect. It believes society exists as a scaffolding for a higher existence.

• Master vs. Slave Morality

  Explicitly introduced and detailed. Master-morality originates in a ruling caste that sees itself as good/noble and creates values. It is self-glorifying, proud, and power-affirming. Slave-morality originates among the ruled. The chapter warns against their modern confusion and the preaching of mediocrity.

• Will to Power

  Identified as the fundamental fact of life and history. Life is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest, and exploitation. A healthy, living organization (like an aristocracy) is the 'incarnated Will to Power,' striving to grow and gain ascendancy.

Characters to notice

• The Narrator

  Acts as the primary philosophical voice, analyzing the origins of aristocracy, morality, and the concept of nobility. He critiques modern ideas and champions the 'will to power' as life's fundamental fact.

• Europeans

  Their ordinary consciousness is criticized for being unwilling to accept that exploitation is a primary organic function of life and will to power. They 'rave' about future societies without exploitation.

• The French

  Referenced as an example of a corrupt aristocracy at the beginning of the Revolution, which abdicated its privileges out of a sublime disgust, representing a closing act of long-term decay.

• Gods

  Mentioned indirectly in the context of ancestors who sacrificed privileges to live wholly for their faith or 'God,' highlighting a type of noble conscience.

• Christianity

  Credited with providing Europe the discipline and refinement of manners necessary to maintain reverence for profound texts like the Bible, instilling a sense of the holy in the masses.

Key passages

• “Every elevation of the type 'man,' has hitherto been the work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be—a society believing in a long scale of gradations of rank and differences of worth among human beings, and requiring slavery in some form or other.”

  Human advancement has always been driven by aristocratic societies that enforce a hierarchy and depend on slavery. This is a hard but necessary truth.

  Establishes the foundational link between aristocracy, rank, and human elevation.

• “life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange and weak, suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, exploitation”

  At its core, life is defined by acts of taking over, injuring, conquering the weak, imposing one's form, and—most mildly—exploiting.

  A stark, biological definition of life as will to power, challenging moralistic interpretations.

• “There is master-morality and slave-morality... The noble type of man regards himself as a determiner of values; he does not require to be approved of; he passes the judgment: 'What is injurious to me is injurious in itself;' he knows that it is he himself only who confers honour on things; he is a creator of values.”

  Two primary moralities exist. The master, or noble, morality originates with rulers who see themselves as the source and creators of value, judging independently.

  Defines the essence of master-morality: self-referential value creation and autonomy.

• “"be like them! become mediocre!" is now the only morality which has still a significance, which still obtains a hearing.”

  In the modern age, the only prevailing morality is one that commands conformity and mediocrity.

  Critique of modern democratic/egalitarian ethics as life-denying and ironic.