Conventionally, people use ‘good and bad’ and ‘good and evil’ interchangeably. However, Nietzsche seems to suggest that there is a difference; that the concept of ‘good and bad’ is a human construct meant to limit the powers of powerful individuals. According to Nietzsche’s perspective, ‘good and bad’ was created to establish a distinction between the powerful and the powerless. When we look into the depth of Nietzsche’s philosophy, he seems to suggest that as long as there will be rulers and subjects, the concept of morality will remain. The actions of the two groups are so different that they become the subject of scrutiny. Powerless people may judge powerful people as either good or bad depending on the treatment they receive. Therefore, the subject of ethics in Nietzsche’s perspective becomes an artificial creation especially by the powerless to try to influence the actions of the powerful. In that respect, ‘good and bad’ becomes relative and an obstacle towards the natural processes. On the contrary, ‘good and evil’ is inherent and can be discerned by both the powerful and the powerless. In light of Nietzsche’s ideas, ‘good and evil’ sounds more natural than ‘good and bad’.
In light of the example reading’s subject of slave morality, again it is evident that it is an issue of ‘good and bad’. The question that sees to emerge is, is it moral to subject other human beings to forced labor? In this respect, the slaves are powerless while their masters are powerful. Therefore, it is the slaves who see the actions of their masters are bad even if the masters may think otherwise. In regard to the Nazi party, the party officials think that they course of action is good while those who are affected by the actions think that they are bad. To sum up, Nietzsche suggests that ‘good and bad’ is relative and depends on the power that individuals hold.
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