But on a serious note I really want to explore the concept of taking responsibilities for our actions. This is not something that we really talke about in class, but it is an underlining theme under a lot of what Nietzsche said. And it more clearly stated in Sartre's arguments. What I want is for you guys to help me understand through discussion the thought processes of Nietzsche as he thought about responsibilities for our actions.
It is clear from his works that Nietzsche is not a big fan of religion (an understatement ... I know), and that he believes the use of religion is a what keeps us in this condition of NO-saying. He believes we should stop using religion as a crutch, stop blaming the Yes-sayers for their master morality, by creating these values that do nothing but respond to situation they have already put in place, and begin saying Yes to their conditions. (Which brings up a side question, When Nietzsche is asking the No-Sayers to adopt a Master Morality, is he asking that a weak person for example acknowledges that s/he is weak and simple say Yes to her weakness?)
This is all done with the underlying thought that we should take responsibilities for our own actions and who are and what we do.
But isn't saying something like Zeus is strong, in fact Zeus is strength and strength is Zeus for the two are one, just substituting one crutch for another. For when Zeus acts (I apologize to Nietzsche for being such a slave to language, but I no of no other to express this) he is not really taking responsibilities for his actions because he would say: I am strong, and to ask me to not exert my strength as strength would be like asking a weak person to exert his weakness as strength. How is this taking responsibilities for your actions?
Your last paragraph really strikes me and is making me question what Nietzsche means when he talks about taking responsibility. I think taking responsibility for actions, as Nietzsche understands it, is different from how we understand it. We see taking responsibility as a duty people have that is independent of them—that is, we separate the individual and the act of accepting that individual’s actions. When Zeus says that he acts strong because he is strong, that is implying a separation between himself and his act of strength. Employing this manmade notion of cause and affect, Zeus is in fact saying that he had the choice to be strong or not to be strong. He is taking responsibility for his action in the way WE define taking responsibility. But to actually take responsibility for his action, he must see the action and himself as one in the same.
ReplyDeleteThis is my best effort at trying to describe/explain why Zeus is not in actuality taking responsibility for himself. But maybe there is a better way or just more to it…
Nellie,
ReplyDeleteI think that Karissa is really on to something in her comment. I don't think that Nietzsche is asking us to take responsibility for our actions as much as he is asking us to recognize the necessity of our actions. Karissa is completely correct to write that Nietzsche criticizes the human construction of cause and effect and the idea that we can separate who we are from what we do.
In fact, I think responsibility is more pertinent to the genealogy of our moral beliefs that Nietzsche gives us. Here, Nietzsche wants us to recognize that morality is a human construction, not some sacred law from on high.