Darwin’s
Evolution, German High Criticism, and Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals each
focus on historical developments, and the resulting evolutions, in religious,
ethical, and biological spheres. Each of these endeavors expose uncomfortable
truths in the societies in which they were received, and cause anxiety to
ripple through them.
German
High Criticism emerged in the 1830’s and developed as a means of analyzing the
bible critically. The school of thought
tracked the evolution of religious institutions by emphasizing the bible as a
historical document. David Straus prompted great scandal with the publication
of his book Life of Jesus, in which
he made the argument that the miracles of Jesus were in fact myth. Straus claims that the gospels of Luke and
John are the result of Christianity traveling into oral communities. He believed that as oral communities traveled
westward, there developed a need to adapt stories of Jesus to appeal to the
Roman (and therefore pagan) communities. The bombastic displays of miraculous
feats were tailored to encourage non-Christian communities to relate to the
stories of a new God. Meanwhile, the
gospel of Mark is far more somber and realistic, excluding many of the miracles
retold by the other gospels. Straus claimed that Mark was written with local
followers in mind (who already believed in Jesus’s authenticity and did not
need to be seduced into following the faith by extravagant stories). He uses this analysis of the synoptic gospels
to argue that they are not, in fact, the divine word of God. As one can imagine, this caused widespread
scandal in Christian Europe. The
community crumbled into anxiety as the
direct words of their Lord and Savior, were discredited.
Following
the historical analysis of German High Criticism, was the discovery of Darwin’s
theory of evolution. Darwin tracked the evolution of species by studying the
results of mutations in all animals. And thus, presented a theory of Natural
selection. This idea held (and certainly still holds) that random variability
occurs in all animals from generation to generation (that is to say,
mutations). Sometimes, these variations make the animal more suited to its
respective environment. The animals that possess the beneficial variations will
become more fit to reproduce, and thus, the positive mutation will be passed on
to the next generation and natural selection occurs.
While
this discovery was vital to the scientific world, it induced more anxiety in
European Society. Darwin’s discovery
exposed humans as just another evolving animal. It portrayed the progress of
culture as nothing more than the result of genetics. Darwinism provided
increased credibility to the concept of determinism and directly contradicted
the Christian story of creation. Indeed, Straus and Darwin would have agreed
that the Garden of Eden never happened.
As the citizens of all affected communities are exposed to these
unpleasant truths, confusion and suspicion creeps through Europe.
Never
one to miss out on asking forbidden questions, Nietzsche follows German High
Criticism, and Darwinism with the publication of his work The Genealogy of Morals. In this work Nietzsche tracks the
evolution of ethical moral standards by studying their causal roots. The philosopher presses, “Where did these ideas come from? Who made this shit up!?” In an explanation of his genealogy, Nietzsche
discusses the development of human value assignments. He
argues that our values are governed by the needs of our species saying, “…we
‘know’…just as much as may be useful in the interests of the human herd, the
species.”[1] Here, Nietzsche explores the evolution of
ethical morals, as they are useful to the species. In this way, morality is
nothing more than an adaptation to a changing environment. Further solidifying this argument, is
Nietzsche’s example of Slave Morality- an inversion of traditional values that
emerged from an adaptation to interests of the herd (in this case, the interest
of the slaves).
Nietzsche’s
position on morals is highly controversial. The very admission that morals have
a causal root, a history, or an origin, immediately debunks moral values as
divine or absolute. They are revealed to be nothing more than a human creation.
Additionally, admission of morals as conditional and dependent values, forces
people to ask the forbidden question, “What
if there was another choice?” And
this is precisely the question Nietzsche encourages.
Each
of these three schools of thought asked forbidden questions, pushed on
long-accepted falsehoods, and incited massive anxiety throughout their
communities. However, Nietzsche was probably as happy and a clam at high tide!
Not only would such forbidden questions encourage the radical individualism he
dedicated his life to, but the mounting panic would have served as a useful
gauge of societal opinions, and provided Nietzsche with valuable insight into
the community.
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