Beyond Good and Evil, Chapter 5 summary

What happens

1. The speaker calls for comparing moral systems rather than defending inherited values as unquestionable truths.
2. He treats moral systems as expressions of emotion and argues that prolonged constraint develops intellectual and artistic powers.
3. Discussions of reason, perception, dreams, and possession expose motives and habits beneath apparently straightforward judgments.
4. He credits Jewish prophets with reversing established values and connects widespread obedience with the dominance of group instincts.
5. He argues that fear makes communities condemn powerful individuals and honor harmlessness, equality, and sympathy.
6. He rejects democratic uniformity and calls for new philosophers who take responsibility for shaping human development.

In this chapter

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