Nietzsche’s Perfectionism and the Ethics of Care: A Brief Treatment

Nietzsche appears antithetical to care ethics. He often mocks human dependency, for instance, sometimes in ways that appear sexist, and he famously challenges the legitimacy of compassion. Nietzsche’s positive ethical position is arguably some form of anti-egalitarian perfectionism which holds that goodness is constituted by individual human excellence. Perfectionism, however, coupled with a rejection of the ethical significance of dependency and virtues like compassion, can seem dangerous to modern sensibilities—especially to those in the care tradition. I think we should put Nietzsche’s perfectionism to the test. In this chapter, I briefly explore whether Nietzsche’s perfectionism might not only be consistent with but possibly even support several core features of care ethics.