In the first essay of the On the Genealogy of Morality, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that moral values have a history. Noble morality says “we are good” and calls the common “bad” (schlecht). Slave morality begins with a No: it looks at the masters, calls them “evil” (böse), and then calls itself “good” by contrast.
The engine is ressentiment — impotent hatred that becomes creative and gives birth to values. Its triumph, says Nietzsche, was Christianity.
Do not confuse this with Hegel’s master–slave dialectic, which is about recognition and self-consciousness.
Explore Next
related by shared connections
The Analects
The collected sayings and conversations of Confucius and his disciples — the most influential book in East Asian history.
Beyond Good and Evil
Nietzsche’s “prelude to a philosophy of the future” — an attack on the prejudices of philosophers, from Plato to Kant, and a sketch of the free spirit.
On the Genealogy of Morality
Nietzsche’s three essays tracing “good and evil”, guilt, and the ascetic ideal back to their hidden, all-too-human origins.
The Little Clay Cart
Śūdraka’s Sanskrit comedy of love, crime and revolution — a poor Brahmin merchant, a generous courtesan, a burglar with a theory of house-breaking, a vicious royal brother-in-law and a popular uprising — the most realistic and modern-feeling play of ancient India.
The Pañcatantra
The ancient Indian book of animal fables written to teach princes the art of practical wisdom (nīti) — the jackals Karaṭaka and Damanaka, the monkey and the crocodile, the lion and the hare — translated into more languages than almost any book except the Bible.
The Prince
Machiavelli’s short, scandalous handbook on gaining and keeping power — the founding text of political realism.