Film Project: Existentialism (Omolola Ajayi and Karissa Bowley)

By Omolola Ajayi and Karissa Bowley

Film Project: I Am Not An Inkwell (Grace Mosley and James Rigney)

By Grace Mosley and James Rigney

Film Project: Billy Tripp's Mindfield (Sophie Osella and Hannah Chimowitz)

By Sophie Osella and Hannah Chimowitz

Film Project: Ubermensch (Martha Abbott and Sean Roulier)

By Martha Abbott and Sean Roulier

Film Project: An Existential Movie (Emily Cowie and Lizzie Heo Yo)

By Emily Cowie and Lizzie Heo Yo

Film Project: Raising A Child As An Existentialist (Chris Lemanski, Schaeffer Mallory and Ben Smith)

By Chris Lemanski, Schaeffer Mallory and Ben Smith

Do "good geniuses" exist?

Last class, we discussed Albert Einstein as the "good genius" foil to Adolf Hitler. But I don't think that just because Einstein's genius didn't lead to genocide that we can necessarily classify it as good. Einstein's theory of relativity certainly increased our understanding, but did it do anything to better the lives of his contemporaries? And was that ever his goal?

I would argue that if we view Einstein's genius in the common interpretation of good (that is, what Nietzsche would view as the slave interpretation of "good"), then he is at best a "neutral genius." He did not aim to help anyone, and outside of helping increase understanding, he did not help anyone. Thus, whether we take a Kantian or Utilitarian view of morality, Einstein's accomplishments were neither good nor bad.

With a few exceptions, the same can be said of most geniuses. In exercising their exceptionalism, the genius doesn't look to help those less fortunate--they simply strive to be the greatest that they can be. Einstein's development of the theory of relativity was pure intellectual pursuit, not a result of his care for others. Thus, if we want to classify any geniuses as "good" geniuses, we must adopt the noble understanding of good, and abandon the slave conception of it.