Friedrich Nietzsche and justice

Short biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Röcken, near Leipzig in Saxony, into a family of
family of pastors. He attended high school in Pforta,
then studied Greek philosophy in the city of Bonn. There he also worked on
philology (study of ancient texts) and became a professor. He
he read Schopenhauer and became friends with Richard Wagner. While the Franco-German
he became a nurse. However, his health deteriorated
however deteriorates. In 1873 and 1874 he publishes the
inactuals I, II, and III. Four years later, in 1878 and 1879, he wrote his
wrote his famous work Human, Too Human after a break with Wagner
with Wagner. He then retires to the University of Basel, and travels throughout
europe despite his health and financial problems. In 1882, he
wrote four volumes of the Gai Savoir, and three years later composed two volumes of Thus
spoke Zarathustra. In 1887, he continued writing The Gay Knowledge
and published The Genealogy of Morals. He died in the summer of 1900 in
Weimar.

Justice according to Friedrich Nietzsche

It would be possible to discern two types of justice in the work of
Nietzsche’s work, to better understand his thought. A moral justice that he
criticizes, and an extra-moral justice, corresponding to “a great justice”,
that he supports.
This first justice is the most often evoked:
“They have now quite monopolized virtue, these weak, these
incurable patients, no doubt about it: “we alone are the good ones
the good ones, the just ones, they say, we alone, we are the homines bonae
voluntatis”” The Genealogy of Morals 1887
The second form of justice is no less present:
“To the taste of great responsibilities, to the majesty of the dominating look, to the
power to abstract from the crowd, from its tasks and its virtues, to the benevolence
benevolence that takes sides with what is ignored and slandered, whether it is God or the devil, to the
god or the devil, to the joy of practicing justice on a grand scale
scope”
Justice could have an inferior meaning, and a superior meaning that goes beyond good and
beyond good and evil. Nietzsche desires a reversal of
values, that is to say a transformation.

Origin of justice according to Nietzsche:

In Human, too human, in 1878, Nietzsche defines for him
the origin of justice:
“Justice (equity) originates between men enjoying a
equal power, as Thucydides saw it well”
He explains that when there is a risk of conflict, harmful for the two
parties, then “is born the idea to agree and to negotiate on the claims
of each party: the character of barter is the initial character of
justice.”(Human, Too Human, 1878)

Friedrich Nietzsche’s Critique of Justice

Justice is a selfish feeling: it comes from the will to power,
to preserve oneself: “Justice naturally comes down to the point of view of a
instinct of conservation of course, that is to say to the egoism of this
reflection: “What good would it do me to harm myself unnecessarily and perhaps miss
nevertheless miss my goal? – So much for the origin of justice”(Humain,
too human, 1878)
He continues his reflection by assimilating the virtue of justice to an
animal virtue: it comes from instinct. “The beginnings of justice
as those of intelligence, of measure, of valour – in short, of all that we designate
what we designate by the term of Socratic virtues, are animal” Aurore,
1881.
The word justice is misleading. Justice is in fact only a hidden vengeance
a desire of power hidden under the nobility of the word justice.
This criticism is clearest in The Genealogy of Morals
(1887) but he already makes Zarathustra say: “I tear your veil so that
that your rage may bring you out of your hole of lies and that behind your
behind your word ‘justice’ your vengeance will emerge(Thus Spoke
Zarathustra, 1883-1885)
See also:
A good article on justice and Nietzsche is Arnaud
François to learn more.
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