Overview Of Week 3: What We Will Be Reading, Discussing, and Learning

In the third class session of our course, we will be working our way through the second treatise or essay of the Genealogy of Morals

On Saturday, we will hold our third online class session using Zoom. We will be recording the class session, and it will be uploaded for all of you students as an unlisted YouTube video embedded here in our class site (these won't be shared with non-students). After that, I will open the Week 3 Discussion Forum to student comments and questions, so that we can continue the discussion throughout the week

The specific topics we will be working through during this week's class session are:

  • The development of responsibility and conscience
  • The contractual relation of creditor and debtor
  • The multiple purposes and functions of punishment
  • The rise of the community and the state
  • Ressentiment, justice, and revenge
  • Internalization of instincts
  • Religion arising in relation to ancestors
  • Christianity and the maximum God
  • The contemporary situation of nihilism


You will doubtless find it useful to read through at the very least the second treatise before our class session, perhaps more than once. You will also likely discover that rereading that portion of the text after participating in or watching the class session will help you develop a deeper understanding of Nietzsche' ideas.

Complete and Continue