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The Moral Decadence In Nietzsche’s Philosophical Writings
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 5]
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1.2 An Overview of Morality
Morality applies to different
fields of studies and in which the choices made by individuals express
an interior relative to other individuals (even non-members of the
society). It varied greatly from society to society, culture to culture.
There is this academic debate, which states whether morality can exist
only in the society or in a hypothetical individual without any
relationships with others. Also, does morality based only on religion,
such that no person without religion can practice morality? The efficacy
of a morality depends on the social position and political
representatives of the group that espouse it and the way it touches the
norms of the related society. Also, a person without religion can still
practice morality. Though “some theologians claimed that morality is
inseparable from religionâ€.2 But a lot of moral values came from
religion.
1.3 WHAT MAKES A PERSON TO BE MORAL OR IMMORAL
1.3.1 A choice for Life:
The
decision to be selfish or unselfish is not just a choice of the moment
but is a fundamental part of character, as it is one of the first, if
not the first, value that is formed by the developing mind of a baby.
This is so, because nature delivers the infant with an incomplete set of
values along with the ability to request succour. Existence precedes
essence, says Sartre. By this he means that man was not created with any
fixed essence or nature according to which he must live. On the
contrary, human mind is not tabla rasa that is why a child begins to
succour when no one teaches him. Therefore, the above infantile demands
could be developed towards good or evil depending on his relationship
with others. This is because Man is not a finished product, but a
self-creating, a being that is continually making himself and giving
himself an essence. Example: A mother who makes every other thing
secondary to feed her infant is helping to create a selfish monster in
the child who will latter assume himself of more paramount importance
than any other person, while the mother who enforces a program of
feeding that is convenient to the household, is achieving the opposite
effect.
1.3.2 Baby’s Demand Hard To Resist
Nevertheless, it is not
easy to resist the demands of babies, because nature has made adults
sensitive to the appearance and sound of infants. Many women have a
strong desire to pamper babies, and children enjoy the ready affections;
but it is the unrestrained application of such feelings that create
immoral humans or selfish people. For unless a baby discovers the need
for patience and endurance, the subsequent adult will never accept the
need for self-sacrifice, or moral restraint.
1.3.3 Inevitable Results of Undisciplined Upbringing.
These come as a result of parents’ total concern or basic desire to pamper children more than required.
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My feelings are all important: The youthful students can only learn
that his feeling is very necessary and the parents will always respond
creditably. As a result, they cry and adult’s leap into action to
relieve the distress, regardless of the reason for the tears. When they
smile, adult smile.
- How to fool parents: When a
child get this trick, a controlling force, then he fakes tears and
smiles in order to get the adults reactions to their demands.
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Disrespect for Authority: When this goes on throughout childhood, the
resultant effect is that the child overlooks the authority with its
restrictions and laws, as nothing but hot air that can be safely flouted
by emotional appeal.
- Truth is Unimportant:
When we allow children to prevent laws and do whatever they like,
because we feel so much concern for them. The lesson must be that truth
(what actually happened) is unimportant compared to the subsequent
emotional reaction of others.
Having seen all these, the decision to
be moral or immoral is resolved starting from early childhood even
before awareness has properly developed. So, unless unselfishness is
removed during infancy by enforcing a code of discipline, the subsequent
adults must become selfish, and thus immoral.
Also, fathers exercise
better control than mothers, they invoke fear and enforce discipline in
the child and are more difficult to be manipulated through emotional
appeal.
1.4 kinds of Morality
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