这两天特别想念儿子， 因为又快开学了，我的ENS （empty nest syndrome ) 又回到起点。可能这次的恢复功能会比去年好，但起码要一两周的时间吧！ 突然想起儿子在母亲患重病时，儿子陪我一同回香港时写的一篇文章. 除了进出医院看外婆外，儿子把大部分时间留在房里看书，因为要缺课十天，学校把他所有的缺课测验， 全都打零分算，但儿子却跟我说："妈妈， 念书甚么时间都可以，但如果我这次不跟你回去看望婆婆， 我怕会终身后悔啊！“结果，儿子的话应验了，母亲离世，儿子的话至今仍在我耳边迥响！

当时，只知道他在母亲病患时写的是一篇欧洲史的功课，儿子从不要我们参与他的“功课“，他要自己的“全力已赴“，所以我只好做个听话的妈妈，除了他要求的哲学字典外，全靠他独力消化这些哲学家的主要理论！！在探病的一周内完成阅读.以下就是当日的草稿。 我把它留下来作个记念，原意是留给母亲作记念， 但已用不着了。

这篇虽然是儿子在十年级时写过的一篇发展史，可也让我重新审视西方的宗教道德观和文化之间的互动影响。对於一个十五岁的中学生，面对西方心理学代表人物的主要论点作研究，和要把圣经这本典籍作蓝本来加以分析，这真的让我对美国中学教育内容有更客观的批评。（其实儿子早已遗忘了这篇消化不良的文章， 可它对我而言，却有双重意义. ）

AP European History 2005
Criticial Essay

" On the Generalogy of Morals " and " Civilization and its Discontents"

Throughout time, the human instinct to dominate through seizing power has been the driving motivational force of man. This endeavor has created a struggle between the stronger and the weaker, creating a small group of the ruling elite and a mass majority of the oppressed ( Nietzsche 26). These differences in class distinction have shaped the evolution, perspectives and value of morality, religion and philosophy.

Humans are born with the natural aggressive sentiment to take control, through means of force and violence (Freud 72). This natural aggression that we possess is one that cannot be changed through means other than our own will. "Aggressiveness was not created by property. It reigned almost without limit in primitive times.. " (Freud 71)

This aggression has existed for all of man's existence. When examining the commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighor as thyself", it is realized that this is a task that cannot be accomplished, because man feels naturally hostile towards others, and would much rath use, rape, and slaughter then be naturally inclined to love (Freud 68). Without a logical reason to love another man, these are feelings of hostility exist as opposed to neutrality or love. Our bodies cause us natural unhappiness due to the creation of civilization because of our inability to release our aggression without infringing on laws we must follow (Freud 78). The Eros instinctually tries to creat bonds between one another, and our super-ego tries to restrain our natural inclination of the death-drive, which is to return thing to a state of non-existence (Freud 81).

The aggression of man has lead to the struggle for power. This power has been awarded to the victors has separated them, distinguishing them as the stronger,while the weaker become oppressed by them, creating different social rankings. When looking at the terms "good" and "bad", it is noticeable that in the German and Greek language that good is similar sounding to powerful or master, while bad was associated with simple and plebian (Nietzsche 28). This type of word association was used among those who were stronger, and they developed what is called master morality. Those that became oppressed adapted what was called slave morality, which associated themselves as the good, and the nobles became the opposite, bad.

The Latin word bonus could be traced back to the meaning of "...the man of strife, of dissention (duo), as the man of war: one sees what constituted the " goodness" of a man in ancient Rome" (Nietzsche 31). The actions of the nobility were associated with being war-like and aggressive. However, when the highest order of the social class also became the priestly rank, the terms of purity and impurity came into conflict for the first time (Nietzsche 32). From here, purity is related to " Abstinence of certian meat, of sexual coninence" (Nietzsche 32) and impurity is related to arrogance, revenge and the lust to rule, which were traits of the noble class. This impurity now associated with the noble class thanks to the priestly, and they were given the label of evil.

Those that maintain the slave morality creates these labels out of hatred and jealousy of the noble class (Nietzsche 28) because they are men of ressentiment (Nietzsche 26). Their hatred consumes their souls and poisons their minds, and they blame the nobility for all of their misfortunes, while the nobility just view their lower counterparts as simply bad.

This is problematic because as those who possess slave morality praise actions that do not cause harm to be good from their perspective, and the higher classes are born with these traits that are considered evil (Nietzsche 45) by slave morality, and will slaughter and fight due to their natural aggression (Freud 70). 'To demand of strength that it should not be a desire to overcome, a desire to throw down, a desire to become master... is just as absurd as to demand of weakness that it should express itself as strenght. " (Nietzscche 45). The will to dominate will not be ignored by the upper classess, and to expect the ruling class not to rule is to expect something them to be something completely other than a ruling class (Nietzsche 46).

The human ability to make promises is important. I order to be useful in this sense, one has to be able to have a strong memor, and to conform to laws that make us more calculable (Nietzsche 61). This is the root of responsibility. The man that has the ability tomake these promises also has the power to control his own will (Nietzsche 61). This awareness is man's conscience.

Some men experience guilt when they have a debt that has not been repaid (Nietzsche 61). This debt relates to punishment, which is given to an individual when he cannot repay this debt, and becomes a part of his own memory due to the extraordinary pain that it brings. In the past, this pain and torture that humans would endure was considered of great importance, and some times it was considered cheerful.

The meaning of guilt has changed from being a simple debt to the exercise of poor judment, knowing that you were to have done something tht you were responsible for, but chose not to. We find that through out history, people have been punished for different reasons at different times for different things, which means that punishment is dependent on the dominating force, and the meaning of the punishment (or of anything for this matter) is solely dependent on what this stronger being's will is. This is considered the will to power, and it determines the definitions of our terms (Nietzsche 67).

The weakness of the oppressedled to the creation of gods. Once communities were established, with set laws that could not allow man's original instinct of aggression to be unleashed, the violence that man felt towards himself (Freud 64) created his feelings of guilt on his conscience (Nietzsche 61). The feeling of debt that cound not be repaid to a figure above earthly realms was created, which was the Christian God. (Nietzsche 63). God gave us his only son and sacrificed him, to pay the debt of our sins, which would save us from eternal damnation, a debt that could never be repaid that cause great feelings of guilt (Nietzsche 61). Humans should not seek to relase their inner aggression barbarically towards the outside like before, but instead leave it within, and defeat their guilt tobecome something greater.

Religion is a mechanism that keeps the oppressed from retailiating towards the masters. It is a distraction that gives us hope that the evil will suffer in the after life, while the oppressed laborers willbe rewarded. This distraction keeps them from experienceing the unhappiness that is felt in civilized life, the fact that we are responsible for keeping our human aggressions inside of us (Freud 23).

When using the slave morality, ascetic ideals are considered good. However, when viewing it from master morality, it is considered of the weak. The will of the human being to use ascetic ideals are important in determining if it will is being used wisely. Philosophers use ascetic ideals better than artists and simpletons because they use it to free themselves of earthly distractions, which increases their ability toobserve and understand life.

The priests tha tuse ascetic ideals use them because they are influenced by guilt as well, and feel that their own self torture will lead them and their followers onto a path of salvation. This priest changes the course of their hate onto themselves, and keeps them guilty. He does not find a way to cure them of their unhappiness, but finds ways to lessen it, such as promoting help among these weak masses." ...of such paradoxical and paralogical concepts as "guilt","sin" "sinfulness" and "damnation".. to direct the ressentiment of the less severely afflicted sternly back upon themselves..."(Nietzsche 128). Since this mass does possess no real power, when they will to power, they have nothing, so they are willing nothingess (Nietzsche 51).

The interpretation of anything will give a slightly different perspective dependent upon the will. The will of the ascetic ideal used by humans influence are thoughts into thinking that we suffer to understand our lives, and that the powerful are to be evil and that the powerless are to be good. Science is not unlike all meaning, it is also driven by a will. It does not power itself because it can only record what is true, and cannot be influenced through distorted interpretations. What is problematic for science is that it does not question the truth,just like the powerless. Since science does not question this, we cannot believe in an absolute due to the perspectives that exist. An absolute is actually not an absolute at all but the creation of a perspective of a powerful will. It is through this human will that is a product of our human inclination that we understand our existence.