In Nietzsche's book, "Beyond Good and Evil", what was his main thesis?

Question

I don't understand his views on morality, can you help?

Answer 1

He suggests that an analysis of moral systems will produce two different kinds of systems each of which tends to work to different ends, at least in part because of their different origins.  One will have been devised and used by those who rule, and one by those who are forced to serve.  Many of the characteristics of each are self evident:

Slaves cannot help themselves; if they could, they would not be slaves, would they?  Thus slave moralities tend to focus on the idea of charity and that of the 'greater good' instead of the individual.  To a slave, the person who stands out is the one most likely to attract notice and punishment, so slave moralities tend to discourage the unusual of any stripe.  And since all slaves are in the same boat, it applies to all of them in the same way - anyone can be a good slave, if they only try hard enough.

Master moralities are completely different.  To a master, what is good is what serves HIS purposes.  And because he must adapt and overcome any number of different challenges, this is not always the same thing.  Thus, to a master, what is 'good' is very similar to what gets him power and allows him to keep it.  If some master didn't prize power, then another who did would probably rather quickly replace him.  Masters' morality is not only flexible (a.k.a. 'beyond good and evil') but also isolating:  its focus is on the one on top instead of the many below.

You can rather quickly see that these two kinds of systems almost HAVE to be opposed to each other.  Even if there were no resentment between masters and slaves, the masters seek triumph while the slaves seek assimilation.  A master defines his morality and shapes the world to suit it; a slave is handed a world he cannot shape and so instead shapes himself.

To Nietzsche, the choice between systems is as easy as the choice between lifestyles.  Who would willingly sell themselves into slavery?

Answer 2

Six words: "God is dead. Might makes right."

Also Sprach Zarathustra, one of his other works, explicitly states the first.  Beyond Good and Evil boils down to the second, with the "Superman" theory, one who has gone beyond traditional moral standards, and has no law but his own will.

Bonus points if you can name the mid-20th century European political leader who adopted Nietzschean philosophy as a system of government!

Hint: Note use of the word 'leader'.