Mental Obsession: An Analysis Based on Nietzschean Concepts of Ressentiment and Bad Conscience

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Kayvan Ansari
Malek Hosseini
Department of Philosophy. Science and Research Branch. Islamic Azad University. Tehran. Iran
10.30470/phm.2020.121121.1749
Abstract
Mental obsession means repeated, unwanted, uncontrollable thoughts which causes unusual anxiety and makes one do obsessive actions, in response. These actions seem to reduce anxiety and be protective; However, not only they do not cure, but also they sicken more by acting as a self-attacking force: Obsessive actions do not come from a will to rehabilitate, but from a will to retaliate. Mental obsession is usually known as a disorder or desease, and it’s regarded and interpreted from a psychiatrical or psychological perspective; But free from these perspectives, this article conducts a philosophical analysis of mental obsession based on “ressentiment” and “bad conscience” –key concepts of Nietzsche’s Geneology of Morals. As a result of this analysis, what underlie mental obsession are instinctive forces that can not discharge themselves outwardly and thus, turn inwards; they create and employ a bad conscience, in order to attack the owner of themselves –the patient.

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