Book Two: A Criticism of the Highest Values That Have Prevailed Hitherto
V: Concerning the Slander of the so-called Evil Qualities§373 The origin of moral values. Egoism has as much value as the physiological value of he who possesses it.
Each individual represents the whole course of Evolution and he is not, as morals teach, something that begins at his birth. If he represents the ascent of the line of mankind, his value is, in fact, very great; and the concern about his maintenance and the promoting of his growth may even be extreme. (It is the concern about the promise of the future in him which gives the well-constituted individual such an extraordinary right to egoism). If he represents descending development, decay, chronic sickening, he has little worth: and the greatest fairness would have him take as little room, strength and sunshine as possible from the well-constituted. In this case society’s duty is to suppress egoism (for the latter may sometimes manifest itself in an absurd, morbid and seditious manner): whether it be a question of the decline and pining away of single individuals or of whole classes of mankind. A morality and a religion of “love”, the curbing of the self-affirming spirit and a doctrine encouraging patience, resignation, helpfulness and co-operation in word and deed may be of the highest value within the confines of such classes, even in the eyes of their rulers: for it restrains the feelings of rivalry, of resentment and of envy, feelings which are only too natural in the ill-constituted and the malformed and it even deifies them under the ideal of humility, of obedience, of slave-life, of being ruled, of poverty, of illness and of lowliness. This explains why the ruling classes (or races) and individuals of all ages have always upheld the cult of unselfishness, the gospel of the lowly and of “God on the Cross”.
The preponderance of an altruistic way of valuing is the result of a consciousness of the fact that one is the ill-constituted and bungled. Upon examination, this point of view turns out to be: “I am not worth much”, simply a psychological valuation; more plainly still: it is the feeling of impotence, the lack of the great self-asserting impulses of power (in muscles, nerves and ganglia). This valuation gets translated, according to the particular culture of these classes, into a moral or religious principle (the pre-eminence of religious or moral precepts is always a sign of low culture): it tries to justify itself in spheres whence, as far as it is concerned, the notion “value” hails. The interpretation by means of which the Christian sinner tries to understand himself, is an attempt at justifying his lack of power and of self-confidence: he prefers to feel himself a sinner rather than feel bad for nothing: it is in itself a symptom of decay when interpretations of this sort are used at all.
In some cases the ill-constituted and the malformed do not look for the reason of their unfortunate condition in their own guilt (as the Christian does), but in society: when, however, the Socialist, the Anarchist and the Nihilist are conscious that their existence is something for which someone must be guilty, they are very closely related to the Christian, who also believes that he can more easily endure his ill ease and his wretched constitution when he has found someone whom he can hold responsible for it. The instinct of revenge and resentment appears in both cases here as a means of enduring life, as a self-preservative measure, as is also the favour shown to altruistic theory and practice.
The hatred of egoism whether it be one’s own (as in the case of the Christian), or another’s (as in the case of the Socialists), thus appears as a valuation reached under the predominance of revenge; and also as an act of prudence on the part of the preservative instinct of the suffering, the form of an increase in their feelings of co-operation and unity —
At bottom, as I have already suggested, the discharge of resentment which takes place in the act of judging, rejecting and punishing egoism (one’s own or that of others) is yet another self-preservative instinct on the part of the ill-constituted and the malformed. In short: the cult of altruism is merely a particular form of egoism, which regularly appears under certain definite physiological circumstances.
When the Socialist, with righteous indignation, cries for “justice”, “rights”, “equal rights”, it only shows that he is oppressed by his inadequate culture and is unable to understand why he suffers: he also finds pleasure in crying; if he were more at ease he would take jolly good care not to cry in that way: in that case he would seek his pleasure elsewhere. The same holds good of the Christian: he curses, condemns and slanders the “world” and does not even except himself. But that is no reason for taking him seriously. In both cases we are in the presence of invalids who feel better for crying and who find relief in slander.