An Assessment of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Views on Morality and Obligation: Implications of the Entanglement of Financial Principles with Moral Social Regulation

Through evaluating Nietzsche’s reflections in "On the Genealogy of Morals" while also keeping in mind warrior and creation themes from his work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", I explore just how much, and just how perniciously, financial principles have permeated our moral social systems. After establishing the social elevation of contractual morality as an effect of morality’s financial entanglement, as well as through an exploration of the false commodification of human experience and its use as a means for extracting “interest” that comes as a result, I explain why we should reject contractual morality and the concept of moral obligation. I demonstrate why this is primarily because it facilitates the manipulation of the “honor” of contracts for the purpose of providing a return on suffering, and can lead to the will to nothingness. Additionally, I demonstrate the validity of Nietzsche’s condemnation of the exploitation of the “bad conscience” that leads to complacent exploitation and the will to nothingness, despite the decidedly short-sighted nature of the lack of empathy he demonstrates for those who succumb to it. Ultimately, in this thesis I negate the promotion of “redemption” as the ultimate moral goal that is merely a reflection of crude financial values.