(iPoster) Rescuing Conscience: Nietzsche on Virtue in a Post-Christian Age

• In Event: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory 2 (Historical) & Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory 2 (Historical)

Abstract

In an increasingly secular society, the concept of conscience, with its roots deeply embedded in Christian theology, presents a compelling paradox. While essential for upholding the social contract and fostering a sense of shared morality, its traditional religious framework often feels out of place in the modern world. This tension between the necessity of conscience for social cohesion and the perceived obsolescence of its theological underpinnings has created a void in our understanding of morality.
On first glance, Friedrich Nietzsche seems an unlikely source for resolving this tension. Recent works by scholars such as Edward G. Andrew, Heinz D. Kittsteiner, Richard Sorabji, and Paul Strohm have portrayed Nietzsche as a radical critic and enemy of conscience. I agree with this portrait in part: Nietzsche indeed critiques conscience in its Christian forms, specifically Pauline, Augustinian, and Lutheran, which (according to Nietzsche) reduce conscience to a mechanism of guilt and punishment and, in turn, promote radical self-denial – what he calls “unselfing morality” (Entselbstungs-Moral). This “unselfing morality,” according to Nietzsche, makes “good conscience” impossible, as it posits an unbridgeable gap between God and man that reduces all human thought and action to sin.
And yet my paper argues that Nietzsche is not only a critic but also a proponent of conscience. He recognizes conscience as a necessary feature of the political community, insofar as any community requires some degree of self-denial for the common good. A deeper inspection of his 1887 On the Genealogy of Morality reveals that Nietzsche, in recognizing the necessity of conscience, also attempts to rescue it from its radical Christian forms. Following pre- and post-Christian thinkers like Xenophon, Cicero, Shaftesbury and Rousseau, Nietzsche situates (non-Christian) conscience within the natural order. But whereas these thinkers couple conscience with the divine, Nietzsche grounds conscience in the natural order alone, without reference to divinity. Nietzsche seeks to reestablish the conditions for virtue by overturning Christian conscience and replacing it with a secular conscience that enables the human being to take pride in its thoughts and deeds. In other words, Nietzsche tries to restore the possibility of a good conscience, one that allows the individual to find happiness through self-affirmation. Insofar as secular conscience can direct us to be true to ourselves and the world, Nietzsche illuminates the possibilities of moral agency in a post-Christian world.

Author

• Thomas Randall Meredith, Santa Clara University