English Psychologist A

Essay by mjmsoccer30College, UndergraduateA, November 2014

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The English Psychologists

What defines morality? It can be argued that the majority of the population perceives caring for the sick as a morally good act, but what defines this act as "good" is subject of great philosophical debate. Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book On the Genealogy of Morals, challenges David Hume's principles of morals. According to Nietzsche, English psychologists, including Hume, believe that moral principles are incorrectly rooted in their utility. Rather, Nietzsche claims that moral principles are rooted in the beliefs and ideals of those considered the powerful and influential throughout history. While Nietzsche may present a strong premise with historical evidence, his argument fails to take into account where power is derived from, and incorrectly interprets the evidence.

In the first treatise, Nietzsche analyzes the manner by which contemporary English psychologists of the time defined morals, which in some aspects is arguably similar to Hume's definition of morality.

According to Nietzsche, English psychologists of the time believed that the morals resulted from individuals forgetting the origin of praise for a useful action and then believing that the action was intrinsically good. (Nietzsche, pg. 10) Nietzsche specifically states, "unegoistic actions were praised and called good from the perspective of those to whom they were rendered, hence for whom they were useful; later one forgot this origin of the praise and, simply because unegoistic actions were as a matter of habit always praised as good, one also felt them to be good-as if they were something good for themselves." (Nietzsche, pg. 10) From this account, it is clear that Nietzsche emphasizes utility, error, and habit as central to the English psychologist's principles. Although, David Hume makes no account for the origin of morality in his book, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, central to Hume's...