Please leave constructive criticism regarding my contributions. My major ones are copied below. -- Niasain 20:32, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
On the Genealogy of Morals
From The First Essay:
- Nietzsche reflects on this section in Ecce Homo. He writes, "The truth of the first inquiry is the birth of Christianity: the birth of Christianity out of the spirit of ressentiment [note: this is roughly French for resentment], not, as people may believe, out of the "spirit"-a countermovement by its very nature, the great rebellion against the dominion of noble values." (trans. Walter Kaufmann, from Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy Of Morals and Ecce Homo. ed. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. pp. 312.)
In the first essay, Nietzsche examines the origin of the concepts of good and evil. He does this by contrasting the noble races ("master morality"), such as the Greeks and ancient Germans, from the priestly races ("slave morality"), namely Christianity and Judaism.
For the noble societies, good is defined in terms of a reflexive mentality, that is, a noble man asserts his own goodness on the basis of his own authority. "Bad" is defined as the opposite of the good. In contrast the priestly socities, out of ressentiment, "evil" is defined first, and good is defined as the opposite of the evil.
Ressentiment, more specifically, is a feeling of resentment or hatred towards the masters. Out of this developes the spirit of Christianity, and the desire to see one's enemies punished. This culminates in the idea of a vengeful God, Hell, and of God's self-sacrifice through Jesus. (This is elaborated on in the second essay.) Out of this disdain for the current reality and a focus on the afterlife developes nihilism, which Nietzsche sees as the chief problem of the present day.
Nietzsche condemns the slave morality because it's values are values of weakness, whereas the master morality has values of strength and power. Nevertheless, it is in the priestly existence, which he says is "essentially dangerous," that man acquires depth and becomes evil, and thus is interesting.
From The Second Essay:
- In Ecce Homo Nietzsche writes regarding this section, "The second inquiry offers the psychology of the conscience-which is not, as people may believe, 'the voice of God in man': it is the instinct of cruelty that turns back after it can no longer discharge itself externally. Cruelty is here exposed for the first time as one of the most ancient and basic substrata of culture that simply cannot be imagined away." (trans. Walter Kaufmann, from Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy Of Morals and Ecce Homo. ed. Walter Kaufmann." New York: Vintage Books, 1989. pp. 312.
From The Third Essay:
- In Ecce Homo Nietzsche writes regarding this section, "The third inquiry offers the answer to the question whence the ascetic ideal, the priests' ideal, derives its tremendous power although it is the harmful ideal par excellence, a will to the end, an ideal of decadence. Answer: not, as people may believe, because God is at work behind the priests but faute de mieux [lacking something better]-because it was the only ideal so far, because it had no rival. 'For man would rather will even nothingness than 'not will.'-Above all, a counterideal was lacking-until Zarathustra."(trans. Walter Kaufmann, from Nietzsche, Friedrich. On The Genealogy Of Morals and Ecce Homo. ed. Walter Kaufmann." New York: Vintage Books, 1989. pp. 312.
Alta Vendita
I corrected some of the confusing language in this article that led one to believe it was both writen by Masons and anti-masonic, and endorsed by popes yet anti-catholic. I also added 3 links, 1 from the BC masonic lodge and 2 from the Catholic encyclopedia, the point of view disclaimer and the talk page. I lated removed the warning after some edits (see history and talk page).
Agape
Added POV Check and changed: "Greek philosophers at the time of Plato used it in a way that suggested a universal - as opposed to a personal - love; this could mean love of truth, or love of humanity" to "Greek philosophers at the time of Plato used it in a way that suggested love of that which is below you, rather than philia, love between friends or equals, and eros, love of that which is above you"
02:37 12-Jun-06, I removed the POV check, though I am uncertain about the quality of the article.
Bernard Nathanson
Main edits:
- Corrected note: "↑ Nathanson M.D., Bernard. The Hand of God. Regnery Publishing, Inc.: Washington D.C., 1996. pp. 58-59. (ISBN: 0895264633) "In the mid-sixties I impregnated a woman...and I not only demanded that she terminate the pregnancy...but also coolly informed her that since I was one of the most skilled practitioners of the art, I myself would do the abortion. And I did."
- Corrected information on The Silent Scream and added information on The Hand of God (Book) and Eclipse of Reason.
The Hand of God (Book)
I created this page. This is how it looked on June 12, 2006 at 02:26
The Hand of God (Book) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hand of God is an autobiographical book (ISBN: 0895264633) written by Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. on the subject of abortion. Nathanson chronicles his life from being a "perfunctory Jew" who helped found NARAL and oversaw New York City's Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health, the largest abortion clinic in the world at the time, through his conversion to the anti-abortion movement in the late 1970's, to the eve of his conversion to Roman Catholicism. In doing so, he describes his relationship with his father, his motives for becoming an abortionist and the act of aborting his own child, how ultrasound changed his mind, and the abortion procedure itself.
External Links
The Hand of God by Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. on Amazon.com
Categories: Autobiographies | Current affairs books | Abortion | 1996 books
Other pages I've created
Other
I have also made various smaller edits on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Joseph Fiorenza, Daniel DiNardo and various others that I did not log in for. On the first three, I updated them to reflect the shift from Archbishop Fiorenza to Archbishop DiNardo.
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