Final Fantasy and Philosophy: The Ultimate Walkthrough Read Online Free PDF Page B

continued existence of the world, Kefka sees no alternative other than to effect its complete destruction.
    Nietzsche: The Meaning of Morality in the World of Ruin
    What a character. Kefka seems to personify exactly the sort of nihilistic, cynical, life-is-meaningless attitude that people might associate with, well, with philosophers! Existentialist philosophers, to be precise. This, however, would be a gross oversimplification. The existentialist movement represented by writers such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) more accurately expresses a belief that while life may lack an objective purpose, we are each born into the world with the ability to decide for ourselves what is meaningful. Nietzsche, in fact, recognized the potential dangers of a nihilistic outlook, particularly in a world that rejects God. 1 Yet he also saw in this the potential for an even greater justification for existence than philosophers had given before. 2
    Sporting a mustache that would turn Cyan green with envy, Nietzsche greatly influenced Foucault by employing the method of historically investigating concepts to better understand their modern meanings. Nietzsche called this process of outlining a genealogy , the most famous example of which is On the Genealogy of Morals , which explores the evolution of morality. Perhaps surprisingly, our understanding of Kefka can shed some light on the connections between Nietzsche’s famous dictum “God is dead,” the inherent meaninglessness of morality and existence, and the concept of the Übermensch or Nietzschean superman.
    The moral history Nietzsche traces in the Genealogy documents the fate of two separate notions of “good”: good in the sense of superior (good/bad) and moral good (good/evil). Long ago when the world was neatly divided between the noble, knightly, aristocratic class and the hardworking lower class, “ good ” was a term the nobility used to refer to themselves. They alone were fortunate enough to be endowed with intelligence, strength, and wealth. They looked down with pity, not hatred, on the lower class. The lower members of society were “bad” only in the sense that they were not “good.” Their badness was relative, in much the same way that most weapons might be considered bad when compared to the Masamune—inferior, but not morally evil.
    Kefka’s relationship with the rest of humanity (and Moogledom) can be described this way. He feels no animosity toward our protagonists; after his ascent to godhood, he utters not a word of hatred toward them. The same cannot be said of our Heroes’ opinion of Kefka. For most people, Kefka represents the living embodiment of evil. What is evil, though? According to the Genealogy , over time, especially with the advent of Christianity, the lower classes began to resent being looked at with pity and being abused by the nobility. So the downtrodden started a gradual change in the definition of the word “ good .” Rather than being a self-evident concept meaning “superior,” “efficient,” or “top-of-the-line,” the lowly redefine good as the opposite of evil. So everything that the nobility cherish and hold dear is “evil,” and “good” becomes its opposite. The nobility are seen as strong, so meekness becomes a virtue. The nobility have pride, so humility is now desirable. Poverty is a blessing that builds character. Compassion and altruism, which the nobility have no use for, at least when it concerns the lower class, become the cornerstone of the moral life. In time, these ideas take hold in the hearts and minds of all humanity and the distinction between good and evil is born. Nietzsche calls this transition in the meaning of good the slave revolt and the resulting moral norms, which exist to this day, slave morality .
    So perhaps if we are quick to define Kefka as evil, it is only because we, too, think in terms of the slave morality. The scarred