Essay Questions

Explain Nietzsche’s ideology in “Some Backward Steps.”

Nietzsche expounds, “One very forward step in education is taken when man emerges from his superstitious and religious ideas and fears and, for instance, no longer believes in the dear little angels or in original sin, and has stopped talking about the salvation of the soul: when he has taken this step to freedom he has, nevertheless, through the utmost exertion of his mental power, to overcome metaphysics. Then a backward movement is necessary: he must appreciate the historical justification, and to an equal extent the psychological considerations, in such a movement." The backward steps permit man to analyze his earlier assumptions. The steps are equivalent to an exploration and deconstruction of notions which present loopholes in issues which are considered to be "universal truths.” Scrutinizing such truths is important in freeing man from unfounded superstitions and flawed beliefs.

Why does Nietzsche argue that “Being Unjust Is Essential”?

Nietzsche observes, “All judgments of the value of life are illogically developed and therefore unjust. The vice of the judgment consists, first, in the way in which the subject matter comes under observation, that is, very incompletely; secondly in the way in which the total is summed up; and, thirdly, in the fact that each single item in the totality of the subject matter is itself the result of defective perception, and this from absolute necessity…we have moods and variations, and yet we should know ourselves as an invariable standard before we undertake to establish the nature of the relation of anything." Humans are naturally partial and illogical. Judgments are subjective and they reflective the idiosyncratic feelings of individuals. Justice is desirable, but humans cannot attain unqualified justice because all humans including judges have subjective ideologies which govern their conclusions.