"As Nietzsche tells the stort, the modern subject finds its genealogical origins in the values born of the ressentiment of the weak who are unable to discharge their will. The slaves' values are essentially reactive; that is "slave morality from the outset says No to what is 'outside,' what is 'different' what is 'not itself', and this No is its creative deed". Christianity then alters the direction of this ressentiment by saying "No" to what is inside, different, and not itself: the body and the instincts. Guilt or bad conscience results when we measure the self against such an other worldly ideal. Finally, ascetic ideals, as we have seen, expand the scope of the ressentiment by saying "No" to change and diversity in the world around us. In each case, our standards of value are external rather than immanent to the object of our evaluation; in fact, Nietzsche claims that "[w]e have measured the value of the world according to categories that refer to a purely fictititious world".
The modern subject is ill constituted because the will, directed by these external standards, is turned against life itself. The modern subject, this crippled ascetic, expresses its will by creating values and meanings which are essentially opposed to life. The doctrine of free willdenies our experiences as embodied, socially situated actors, while the valorization of a trascendental essence contradicts historical experience. Being, understood in this case as the rational soul, is constructed as a reaction against becoming, against the historical and material forces constitutive of life experience. This "horror of the senses", this denial of change and becoming, in short, this "rebellion agaimst the most fundamental presuppositions of life", constitutes the essence of this modern subject, a fundamentally reactive subject."
Excerpt from "Constituting Feminist Subjects" by Kathi Weeks, London 2018 VersoBooks.
