retro-operating

Updated: May 19, 2025

Throughout the longest period of human history one calls it the prehistoric period the value or non-value of an action was inferred from its CONSEQUENCES; the action in itself was not taken into consideration, any more than its origin; but pretty much as in China at present, where the distinction or disgrace of a child redounds to its parents, the retro-operating power of success or failure was what induced men to think well or ill of an action.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil