In Treatise Two of On the Genealogy of Morality, Friedrich Nietzsche discusses the origin and development of guilt, and how it stemmed from the relationship that forms between creditor and debtor when a business deal or trade is made. Nietzsche states that man has the ability to make promises; therefore, he also has the ability to keep the promises he made. However, if man fails or forgets to keep a promise he automatically becomes indebted to the person to whom the promise was made, which establishes a creditor and debtor relationship. Due to the notion of repaying, the creditor is placed in a superior position over the debtor, while the debtor fears and respects the creditor, due to the notion of owing. Using their power of being in the position of control, the creditor may go to severe extremes to gain personal satisfaction to feel compensated by the debtor. As a method of causing guilt and gaining gratification for themselves, the creditors would punish the debtor by inflicting pain, taking his personal possessions or family, or causing him embarrassment. Nietzsche believes that, because of their conscience, individuals should feel the responsibility to keep their promises, and societies throughout history have taken measures to the extent of physical violence or death to guarantee the routine of keeping vows. " At this level of civilization "punishment" is simply the copy, the mimus of normal behavior toward the hated, disarmed, defeated enemy, who has forfeited not only every right and protection, but also every mercy; in other words, the law of war and the victory celebration of vae victis! in all their ruthlessness and cruelty:--which explains why war itself has supplied all the forms in which punishment appears in history (Nietzsche, 47)." The purpose of these punishments was not necessarily to cause guilt, but for the debtor to pay back what he owed. However, as communities advanced and became more civilized, more law...