Episode #158 - The Creation of Meaning - Nietzsche - The Ascetic Ideal
The Creation of Meaning - Nietzsche - The Ascetic Ideal
This episode explores how feelings like revenge, guilt, and compassion—often seen as natural or moral instincts—can be better understood through the philosophies of Simone de Beauvoir and Friedrich Nietzsche. It questions whether these emotions are biologically embedded or socially inherited, ultimately arguing that they reflect deeper cultural and psychological patterns shaped over time. Through Beauvoir's essay on revenge and Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality, the episode highlights how moral frameworks like guilt and self-sacrifice may not actually serve victims or justice but often reinforce inherited systems of control and denial. Nietzsche’s critique of compassion and truth challenges the listener to reconsider whether these values are life-affirming or simply another form of moral absolutism that denies the unstable, ever-changing nature of reality. Rather than offering a replacement system, the episode ends by inviting reflection on what it would mean to build a life-affirming philosophy grounded in acceptance rather than renunciation.
Further Reading:
Nietzsche on Morality – Brian Leiter (2002)
The Ethics of Ambiguity – Simone de Beauvoir (1947)
The Elements of Moral Philosophy – James Rachels and Stuart Rachels (1986)
See the full transcript here.
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