From Consciousness to Conscience: Cognitive Aspects in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Conscience

Abstract

Abstract This article examines a subject that has received relatively little attention in the literature on Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality: the pivotal role played by the emergence of consciousness (Bewusstsein) as an epistemic faculty in the development of conscience (Gewissen) as a moral faculty. To achieve this objective, I will (1) introduce the inquiry, (2) elucidate Nietzsche’s hypothesis regarding the emergence of consciousness, (3) establish a connection between consciousness and the genesis of conscience, and (4) expound upon the cognitive capacities involved in the formation of conscience as a moral faculty.