PHL100Y1 Lecture Notes - Moral Agency
Document Summary
[1] in the second essay of the genealogy of morality, nietzsche is deconstructing moral agency. That is, he tries to show the genealogy behind moral agency what it takes, historically, to develop a human being who is capable of moral action. Nietzsche"s answer: we moderns ve inherited millennia of conscience-vivisection and animal-torture in icted on ourselves ( 24). [2] nietzsche holds that the real achievement in developing moral agency is to breed an animal with the prerogative to promise ( 1). This is an achievement because by nature we (and most an- imals) are inclined to forgetfulness, which is, he maintains, an integral part of our psychological health. It is the foundation for moral agency, since it is at the root of responsibility. Unless we can be calculable, regular, able to foresee and determine our behaviour in advance, we cannot be moral agents.
