Puritanism is the system of belief developed by the Puritans, 16th and 17th century English Protestants who strove to “purify” the church of Catholic influence. The term “Puritanism” then came to stand for a set of cultural inclinations and practices, closely connected to the strict social enforcement of religiously informed moral norms, which is the sense in which Nietzsche uses the term.
Puritanism Quotes in Beyond Good and Evil
The Beyond Good and Evil quotes below are all either spoken by Puritanism or refer to Puritanism. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
5. Natural History of Morals
Quotes
Every morality is, opposed to laisser aller, a bit of tyranny against “nature”; also against “reason”; but this in itself is no objection, as long as we do not have some other morality which permits us to decree that every kind of tyranny and unreason is impermissible. What is essential and inestimable in every morality is that it constitutes a long compulsion: to understand Stoicism or Port-Royal or Puritanism, one should recall the compulsion under which every language so far has achieved strength and freedom—the metrical compulsion of rhyme and rhythm.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Beyond Good and Evil LitChart as a printable PDF.
Puritanism Term Timeline in Beyond Good and Evil
The timeline below shows where the term Puritanism appears in Beyond Good and Evil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
7. Our Virtues
...a topic of general interest. Turning to utilitarianism, he harshly criticizes the English for both Puritanism and “scientific morality”; the latter, Nietzsche argues, does not serve the best interests of mankind...
(full context)
