Formal conscience#
Summary#
Nietzsche uses this term to describe the innate need for obedience that has developed in mankind through ages of living in herds under commanders. This formal conscience issues unconditional commands of the form “Thou shalt” and seeks to fill itself with content from whatever authority presents itself—parents, teachers, laws, class prejudices, or public opinion. The result is a fundamental limitation on human development, as the herd-instinct of obedience is transmitted at the cost of the art of command.