On the Genealogy of Morals

by

Friedrich Nietzsche

Sickness and Health Symbol Analysis

Sickness and Health Symbol Icon

Nietzsche uses the metaphor of physical “health” to symbolize cultures that encourage humans to thrive, flourish, and experience joy. To Nietzsche, healthy cultures embrace a moral code that acknowledges humans are innately aggressive, adventurous creatures. Such cultures, epitomized by Ancient Greece and Rome, provide outlets (like violent festivities and sports) for people to express and release their aggression and desire for conflict. These cultures also focus on encouraging people to actively pursue their personal interests, to be strong, and to live as fully realized human beings. In describing such cultures as “healthy” rather than merely functional or effective, Nietzsche uses physical health as a tangible representation of emotional and spiritual health, emphasizing the very real benefits that a flourishing culture can have on individuals.

By contrast, Nietzsche uses physical “sickness” to symbolize cultures that make people suffer. Nietzsche thinks that 19th-century European culture—rooted in Christian values that advise people to be kind, patient, humble, and chaste—is a prime example of a sick culture. The prevailing moral code in modern Europe tries to minimize conflict and aggression, and it demonizes these aspects of the human experience. Nietzsche thinks that when people try to repress their inherent aggressive tendencies, they suffer emotionally and spiritually much like a sick person would suffer physically. Under a Christian value system, people either turn their aggression inwards and berate themselves for having aggressive urges, or they become hateful and prejudice toward people who don’t restrict themselves. Such behaviors cause unnecessary suffering and inhibit joy. These cultures are thus “sick,” because they make people feel worse rather than better.

Sickness and Health Quotes in On the Genealogy of Morals

The On the Genealogy of Morals quotes below all refer to the symbol of Sickness and Health. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).
What Do Ascetic Ideals Mean? Quotes

Look into the background of every family, of every institution, of every community; you will see everywhere the struggle of the sick against the healthy[.]

Related Characters: Friedrich Nietzsche (speaker)
Related Symbols: Sickness and Health
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:

‘I suffer: someone is to blame’—all sick sheep think this. But his shepherd, the ascetic priest, says to him, ‘Quite so, my sheep, it must be the fault of someone but you yourself are that someone, you alone are to blame—you yourself are to blame for yourself;’ that is bold enough, false enough, but one thing is at least attained thereby, as I have said: resentment is—diverted.

Related Characters: Friedrich Nietzsche (speaker), Ascetic priest
Related Symbols: Sickness and Health
Page Number: 114
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sickness and Health Symbol Timeline in On the Genealogy of Morals

The timeline below shows where the symbol Sickness and Health appears in On the Genealogy of Morals. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Second Essay: Guilt, Bad Conscience, and Related Matters
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
16. Nietzsche thinks that feeling guilty is a sickness in humanity. Ancient humans faced a wild world that they explored nomadically; they fought freely... (full context)
Third Essay: What Do Ascetic Ideals Mean?
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
...by a desire to preserve life, but they do it in a perverse, “diseased,” or “sick” way. Ascetic priests want to escape the pain and fear of facing human mortality. They... (full context)
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
14. The more normalized this sickness becomes in humanity, the more Nietzsche thinks we should appreciate individuals who are “healthy,” meaning... (full context)
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
Nietzsche believes that the “struggle of the sick against the healthy” lurks behind all aspects of society: families, institutions, and communities. Sick people... (full context)
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
15. While healthy people are busy living actively and embracing life, somebody steps in to “make the sick... (full context)
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
16. Nietzsche thinks the ascetic priest exploits the suffering of the sick by encouraging “self-discipline, self-surveillance, self-mastery” to render them harmless—meaning they cannot usurp the ascetic priest’s... (full context)
The Repression of Human Nature Theme Icon
...burden of feelings). To Nietzsche, the ascetic ideal is the worst possible path for Europeans’ health. (full context)