Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality

In Our Time: Philosophy

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2017

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Nietzsche's On The Genealogy of Morality - A Polemic, which he published in 1887 towards the end of his working life and in which he considered the price humans have paid, and were still paying, to become civilised. In three essays, he argued that having a guilty conscience was the price of living in society with other humans. He suggested that Christian morality, with its consideration for others, grew as an act of revenge by the weak against their masters, 'the blond beasts of prey', as he calls them, and the price for that slaves' revolt was endless self-loathing. These and other ideas were picked up by later thinkers, perhaps most significantly by Sigmund Freud who further explored the tensions between civilisation and the individual. With Stephen Mulhall Professor of Philosophy and a Fellow and Tutor at New College, University of Oxford Fiona Hughes Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex And Keith Ansell-Pearson Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoy the programs.
0:15.0	Hello what price of human animals pay to become civilized? That's one of the questions posed
0:20.0	by the German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche in on the genealogy of morality
0:25.0	a polemic which he published in 1887 towards the end of his working life.
0:29.3	In three essays he argues that having a guilty conscience is the price of living in a society with other humans.
0:35.2	He suggests that Christian morality, with its consideration for others, grew as an act of revenge by the weak against their masters,
0:41.9	the blonde beast of prey, as he calls them, and the price
0:44.6	for that revolt is endless self-loathing.
0:47.4	These and other ideas were picked up by later thinkers perhaps most significantly by
0:50.9	Sigmund Freud, who further explored the tensions between civilization and the individual set out in these
0:57.0	Nietzsche's essays.
0:58.0	With me to discuss Nietzsche's genealogy and morality are Stephen Mulhall,
1:02.0	Professor of Philosophy and a fellow in tutor at New College University of Oxford.
1:06.0	Fiona Hughes, Senior Lecture in Philosophy at the University of Essex, and Keith Ansel Pearson, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.
1:15.3	Stephen Mulhall, what distinguished Nietzsche at an early age?
1:18.4	Well, at an early age, in many ways the educational path he was taking up with quite typical of the time.
1:25.3	He was born in 1844 in Saxony, a province of Prussia.
1:30.8	His family, his father and his grandfather were both Lutheran ministers.
1:34.0	They had connections with the Royal Court and the government.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.