The genealogical method
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Question
Nietzsche's genealogical question?
Answer
Not 'what is good?' but 'where did our sense of good come from, and does it still serve life?'
Question
A 'genealogy' of a value?
Answer
Tracing it back to its historical birth — the conditions and needs it grew from — so it can be judged, not just obeyed.
Question
Life-affirming vs life-denying?
Answer
Life-affirming values make people stronger and more alive; life-denying ones shrink people with shame and fear of their own drives.
Question
Nietzsche's yardstick for a value?
Answer
Does it affirm life (make us stronger) or deny it (make us smaller)?
Question
The genetic-fallacy trap he avoids?
Answer
A lowly origin doesn't by itself make a value false; seeing it was made just lets us reopen whether it still serves us.
Question
Why treat morality as having a history?
Answer
Values feel eternal only because we forgot they were made; give them a birthday and you can weigh them.
Question
How does genealogy differ from ordinary ethics?
Answer
Ordinary ethics judges actions inside morality; genealogy steps outside and asks where morality itself came from.
Question
The three steps of the method?
Answer
Trace the value's origin → see it was made, so reopen it → weigh it: does it affirm or deny life?
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Topic 10.5 hub
On the Genealogy of Morality — Nietzsche
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