Guilt and bad conscience
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Flip to reveal answersWhere does guilt come from, for Nietzsche?
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Question
Where does guilt come from, for Nietzsche?
Answer
From debt — wrongdoing seen as a debt to be paid off in suffering (the words for 'guilt' and 'debt' share a root).
Question
The debtor–creditor origin of guilt?
Answer
If a debt went unpaid, the creditor could take payment in the debtor's pain — so wrongdoing became a debt settled in suffering.
Question
Bad conscience?
Answer
The pain of aggression turned back against yourself when your instincts can no longer be discharged outward.
Question
Why do instincts turn inward?
Answer
Society's rules block them from going outward, so with no other target the aggression attacks the self.
Question
Nietzsche's line on inward instincts?
Answer
'All instincts that do not discharge themselves outwardly turn inward' — the source of bad conscience.
Question
The twist about bad conscience?
Answer
It's an 'illness', but a creative one — turning inward gave humans an inner world, self-awareness and depth.
Question
Guilt vs bad conscience?
Answer
Guilt grows from debt (wrongdoing owed in suffering); bad conscience is blocked aggression biting inward.
Question
Why does this matter for the Genealogy?
Answer
It shows conscience isn't a pure inner voice but was built from debt and cruelty turned inward — a made thing with a history.
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Topic 10.5 hub
On the Genealogy of Morality — Nietzsche
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