SHOOTING AT VIRTUE

Nietzsche is known as a great and poignant critic of the Judeo-Christian virtue and morality, but the motivation and aim of his criticisms might sometimes remain unclear. For instance, in Twilight of the Idols, he writes: “Are we harming virtue, we immoralists? – Just as little as anarchists harm princes. Princes sit securely on their thrones only after they've been shot at. Moral: morality must be shot at.” This saying seems to suggest that Nietzsche criticized and attacked traditional virtue and morality in order to consolidate and strengthen them. In the article, I provide an interpretation of this saying and, in the course of it, approach Nietzsche’s reconceptualization of virtue and morality more generally.