When the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is mentioned, many people react in a confused and frustrated manner. Nietzsche's work is controversial, easily misunderstood, and misinterpreted. What people misinterpret from his work is that a "good man- is better than a "bad man- when, in fact, Nietzsche says that the reverse may very well be a better way to interpret this concept. Nietzsche associates "bad- with conscience, with the emergence of guilt. Men conquered the outward, instinctive animal and turned it inward-- to the mind "where will had to control instinct. Inner life is now the outcome of the will in controlling instinct in a civilized society, and their inner life is a struggle, always to be overcome and affirmed, never to stand still, ever fixed. Why did the individual, on his deathbed, atone for his apparent goodness? Was he asking for absolution? Did he feel guilt? Shame? Nietzsche would say he did not struggle, rather became the end in himself. Those who attempt, but do not follow through in understanding the ideas and views from his book Genealogy of Morals, do not create the opportunity to appreciate the interesting concepts expressed. In reading and studying the different theories of which he speaks, a better understanding may be had of the origin and the value of morality Nietzsche had been questioning, since the age of thirteen. .
In Nietzsche's search for the origin of morality, he realizes that it is not an event that took place rather it is a process, much like the evolution of the human species. It is, according to him, a gradual process, marked by accident and error. Nietzsche opposes the English psychologists' explanations of morality, whose theories suggest that, originally, people who benefited from the unegoistic actions of others would consider those actions "good."" In turn, that made what was good and what was useful the same thing. This association was, over time, forgotten.
