Nietzschean Virtues

Many of the virtue ethics theorists – including Aristotle, Confucius, and the modern ‘moral sentiment theorists’ David Hume and Adam Smith – regard virtues as characteristics that help us to be congenial and to get on well with other people.  This makes sense, of course, because the aim of morality itself is to lay out the rules, or norms, of acceptable behavior in our dealings with other people.  Thus, someone who accounts for morality in terms of virtues will likely think that the characteristics, or virtues, that matter most are those that help us to interact congenially with others.

In contrast to this picture of the virtues, Friedrich Nietzsche offers a starkly different account, emphasizing, as the philosopher Robert Solomon puts it, “more solitary, artistic and (at least in his metaphors) warrior-like virtues, such as independence, creativity and risk taking.”

Given his well known criticisms of traditional morality – particularly Christian morality – it is perhaps unsurprising that Nietzsche offers an alternative account of virtue, one which is highly individualistic and which diverges from the aims of traditional morality.

Nietzsche, after all, claimed that Christian morality is a form of ‘slave morality,’ which is to say, a moral system which identifies the traits of the weak and powerless (i.e. slaves) as the valuable, or morally good, characteristics.  Christian virtues such as meekness, kindness, and humility exemplify traits that Nietzsche views as characteristic of weakness and powerlessness.

Nietzsche contrasts this slave morality with what he calls ‘master morality,’ a system in which ‘good’ or ‘virtuous’ characteristics – like independence and risk taking – are expressions of strength, power, and nobility.

In spite of this perhaps radical grounding, Nietzschean virtues may hold a valuable place in the world of business and finance, albeit alongside and in conjunction with traditional virtues.

As Solomon writes, “in business ethics, we can recognize the difference [between traditional virtues and Nietzschean virtues] in terms of the difference between the good corporate citizen and the entrepreneur.”  The good corporate citizen, on the one hand, will exhibit characteristics that fall within the traditional realm of virtues, like being trustworthy with insider company information, or being just in hiss dealings with colleagues and subordinates.

On the other hand, the entrepreneur or (to consider another example) the hedge fund trader may demonstrate more Nietzschean characteristics, such as risk-taking, creativity, and independence.  The trader may take risks well, which is to say, take risks that lead to profits rather than losses.  The financial entrepreneur may exhibit creativity by developing a creatively new method of analysis, which better predicts market patterns and leads to higher profits.

To say that these Nietzschean virtues are important in the business and financial world is not, however, to say that they are the only valuable characteristics in that world.  Nor is it to say that the Nietzschean virtues cannot exist alongside traditional virtues.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine that any ‘Nietzschean’ entrepreneur or trader could be successful in business or finance without also exhibiting trustworthiness (in his or her dealings with coworkers, superiors, or clients) along the way.