everything we call culture’ is on the spiritualization “Almost ‘higher (Vergeistigung) of on its becoming more profound: this is my proposition” writes cruelty, Nietzsche in (229). In Nietzsche states that in Beyond Good and Evil The Gay Science, order to achieve greatness one must be able to inflict suffering not only on oneself, but also on others, and to be able to endure their reactions to it (GS 325; see also GS 266). When cruelty is spiritualized and transfigured through the drive to love and learn in agonistic friendship, it allows for the sublimation of one’s frustrations (such as feelings of resentment or the desire for revenge) into a competitive and potentially productive force. In and Nietzsche discusses the need for spiritualized cruelty Beyond Zarathustra and its role in relationships with the self and others. In order to learn something new and not simply rest in familiarity, Nietzsche states that it is important to develop a severity toward the self that refuses one’s interior resistance against change (BGE 229). He describes this as kind of cruelty of the intellectual conscience and taste” toward the self “a (BGE 230) and later connects it to his concept of noble morality, which he states is very difficult for those of ideas” to grasp. “modern Spiritualized cruelty is a virtue for seeker knowledge” (der Erkennende) “the who must use it against himself to admit when he is wrong or learn something that is against his hopes (BGE 229). It is also an ability that bodes well in friendship, according to Nietzsche, because it allows one to say what is necessary to the friend whether it is kind or not. Nietzsche states that sometimes it is important to be cruel to the friend out of care for him. He writes that there are times in friendship when one must make an injustice against the friend in order to drive him away (D 489). Nietzsche’s ethics of friendship can require one to enact what we might call today love,” for example to turn away “tough
“Almost everything we call ‘higher culture’ is on the spiritualization (Vergeistigung) of cruelty, on its becoming more profound: this is my proposition” writes Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil (229). In The Gay Science, Nietzsche states that in order to achieve greatness one must be able to inflict suffering not only on oneself, but also on others, and to be able to endure their reactions to it (GS 325; see also GS 266). When cruelty is spiritualized and transfigured through the drive to love and learn in agonistic friendship, it allows for the sublimation of one’s frustrations (such as feelings of resentment or the desire for revenge) into a competitive and potentially productive force. In Beyond and Zarathustra Nietzsche discusses the need for spiritualized cruelty and its role in relationships with the self and others. In order to learn something new and not simply rest in familiarity, Nietzsche states that it is important to develop a severity toward the self that refuses one’s interior resistance against change (BGE 229). He describes this as “a kind of cruelty of the intellectual conscience and taste” toward the self (BGE 230) and later connects it to his concept of noble morality, which he states is very difficult for those of “modern ideas” to grasp. Spiritualized cruelty is a virtue for “the seeker knowledge” (der Erkennende) who must use it against himself to admit when he is wrong or learn something that is against his hopes (BGE 229). It is also an ability that bodes well in friendship, according to Nietzsche, because it allows one to say what is necessary to the friend whether it is kind or not. Nietzsche states that sometimes it is important to be cruel to the friend out of care for him. He writes that there are times in friendship when one must make an injustice against the friend in order to drive him away (D 489). Nietzsche’s ethics of friendship can require one to enact what we might call today “tough love,” for example to turn away