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Life Worth Living is an initiative of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School.
What should we do when we fail?
Nietzsche on Our Deeds
Life Worth Living Team
“Remorse can’t undo any deed; neither can ‘forgiveness’ or ‘atonement.’”
Listen on
Nietzsche insists that remorse and guilt are counterproductive.
Pairings
Our responses to life's big questions are meant to form a coherent whole—a vision of life worth living. A response to one question will fit well with certain responses to other questions, but it will be incompatible with others. We've provided the "Pairs Well With" and "Pairs Poorly With" sections for this article to help you consider these questions of coherence.
Remorse, guilt, shame, conviction…how should I react to my own deeds? All through his life, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was known to have small notebooks on hand as he walked and traveled, recording the thoughts that would often serve as the basis for his larger published works. This text comes from his last few notebooks, written during Nietzsche’s final productive years before his mental collapse in 1889. In this excerpt, Nietzsche argues antagonistically against remorse, outlining an alternative, “immoralist” ethic for how we should respond to our own less-than-favorable deeds:
[.alt-blockquote]Against remorse. I don’t like this kind of cowardice towards one’s own deed; one should not desert oneself when attacked by unexpected disgrace and distress…Remorse can’t undo any deed; neither can ‘forgiveness’ or ‘atonement.’ One would have to be a theologian to believe in a power that cancels guilt; we immoralists prefer not to believe in ‘guilt.’[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote-attribution]Friedrich Nietzsche, Writings from the Late Notebooks, p. 192[.alt-blockquote-attribution]
Questions to Consider
- Take a moment to consider your own tendencies. How do you instinctively respond to your own ill actions—With remorse? Guilt? Shame? Something else?
- Nietzsche claims that nothing can “undo” a deed. If this is true, what is the point of remorse and guilt?
- Nietzsche insists the only way to free ourselves from guilt is to abandon remorse altogether. What other responses are you familiar with? How have you responded to feelings of guilt yourself—do you still feel trapped by them? If not, what did you turn to in order to become free of such guilt?
- Nietzsche describes “remorse” as “cowardice.” Do you agree with this picture? What, either according to Nietzsche or in your imagination, might constitute a brave response to your own misdeeds?
- Think of a time when you felt mischaracterized by others for something you actually did. What did it feel like? How did you respond? Do you ever characterize others by their deeds?
Context
- Friedrich Nietzsche's Writings from the Late Notebooks
- Chapter 9: “When We (Inevitably) Botch It,” from Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most
Pairings
Our responses to life's big questions are meant to form a coherent whole—a vision of life worth living. A response to one question will fit well with certain responses to other questions, but it will be incompatible with others. We've provided the "Pairs Well With" and "Pairs Poorly With" sections for this article to help you consider these questions of coherence.
Remorse, guilt, shame, conviction…how should I react to my own deeds? All through his life, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was known to have small notebooks on hand as he walked and traveled, recording the thoughts that would often serve as the basis for his larger published works. This text comes from his last few notebooks, written during Nietzsche’s final productive years before his mental collapse in 1889. In this excerpt, Nietzsche argues antagonistically against remorse, outlining an alternative, “immoralist” ethic for how we should respond to our own less-than-favorable deeds:
[.alt-blockquote]Against remorse. I don’t like this kind of cowardice towards one’s own deed; one should not desert oneself when attacked by unexpected disgrace and distress…Remorse can’t undo any deed; neither can ‘forgiveness’ or ‘atonement.’ One would have to be a theologian to believe in a power that cancels guilt; we immoralists prefer not to believe in ‘guilt.’[.alt-blockquote]
[.alt-blockquote-attribution]Friedrich Nietzsche, Writings from the Late Notebooks, p. 192[.alt-blockquote-attribution]
Questions to Consider
- Take a moment to consider your own tendencies. How do you instinctively respond to your own ill actions—With remorse? Guilt? Shame? Something else?
- Nietzsche claims that nothing can “undo” a deed. If this is true, what is the point of remorse and guilt?
- Nietzsche insists the only way to free ourselves from guilt is to abandon remorse altogether. What other responses are you familiar with? How have you responded to feelings of guilt yourself—do you still feel trapped by them? If not, what did you turn to in order to become free of such guilt?
- Nietzsche describes “remorse” as “cowardice.” Do you agree with this picture? What, either according to Nietzsche or in your imagination, might constitute a brave response to your own misdeeds?
- Think of a time when you felt mischaracterized by others for something you actually did. What did it feel like? How did you respond? Do you ever characterize others by their deeds?
Context
- Friedrich Nietzsche's Writings from the Late Notebooks
- Chapter 9: “When We (Inevitably) Botch It,” from Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most
Quote + Question + Context
What should we do when we fail?
Pairs Well With:
- Act consequentialism and its rejection of the significance of intention in moral assessment
Pairs Poorly With:
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