Nietzsche

1-Introduction:

Nietzsche life was full of sharp contrasts. The son and

grandson of Lutheran ministers, he was nevertheless the
herald of the judgment that “God is dead” and undertook a
“campaign against morality.” He was raised in an
environment thoroughly dominated by females, yet his
philosophy of the Super person is anything but nurturing. He
called for the fullest expression of human vitality in the name
of the Will to Power, yet he believed that sublimation and
control are the truly human characteristics. While his writings
are lucid, he ended his days in hopeless insanity.

2-Main Premises of Nietzsche Philosophy:

2.1- Reason behind Nietzsche conception of “God is dead”:

1-Development of natural science and works of Darwin

caused doubts in people mind and Nietzsche picking this
declare god is dead. “God is dead, God remains dead, we
have killed him, how shall we comfort ourselves, the
murderers of all murderers?”
2- This conception made life empty and people were
searching for purpose. This was birth of nihilism. He was
influenced by the incontrovertible fact that belief in the
Christian God had drastically declined to the point where he
could confidently say that “God is dead.”
2.2-Death of God was also a new age for Nietzsche:
i-A day when the essentially life denying ethics of Christianity
could be replaced with a life-affirming philosophy. “At last,”
he said, “the sea, our sea, lies open before us. Perhaps there
has never been so open a sea.”
ii- Humanity had something to strive for in presence of God.
Now the god is dead and we realise that we are alone in the
universe we need something to take the role of god so
Nietzsche thought this was upto mankind we must strive for
our own evolution the next phase of man the more superior,
better man, the superman.
iii-He believe, Greek formula of the fusion of the Dionysian
(Dark power of soul) and Apollonian (Power to use dark
power creatively) elements could replace religious faith.

2.3-Neitzsche rejection of notion that there is Universal

moral code:

i-People are different, and to conceive of morality in

universal terms is to disregard basic differences between
individuals. It is unrealistic to assume that there is only one
kind of human nature, whose direction can be prescribed by
one set of rules.

3.2- Development of Master and Slave Morality led to

unnatural system of ethics:

a-Master Morality

i-People with this morality do not look outside of themselves

for any approval of their acts. They pass judgment upon
themselves. Their morality is one of self-glorification. These
noble individuals act out of a feeling of power, which seeks to
overflow.
ii-They honour power in all its forms and take pleasure in
subjecting themselves to rigor and toughness.

b-Slave Morality

i-By contrast, the slave morality originates with the lowest

elements of society. For the slave, “good” is the symbol for
all those qualities that serve to alleviate the existence of
sufferers, such as “sympathy, the kind helping hand, the
warm heart, patience, diligence, humility and friendliness.”
ii-With the slave morality the person who arouses fear is
“evil,” but with the master morality it is in fact the “good”
person who is able to arouse fear.

3.3- The “herd mentality” in time dominated the master

morality:

i-Incredibly, the “herd mentality” in time dominated the

master morality by succeeding in making all the noble
qualities appear to be vices and all the weak qualities appear
to be virtues.

3.4- Man with natural nature has desire for Power:

i-The fact is, Nietzsche says, that men with a still natural
nature, barbarians in every terrible sense of the word, men
of prey, still in possession of unbroken strength of will and
desire for power, threw themselves upon weaker, more
moral, more peaceful races.

3.5-Values such as peace and equality were put forward to

undermine power of the Master race:
i-These values were put forward by people with slave
morality under the guise of the fundamental principle of
society. This, Nietzsche said, was a not-so- subtle desire on
the part of the weak to undermine the power of the strong.

3.6-Envisioned a new day when truly complete person will

achieve new level of creative activity:

i-The Superperson (Übermensch). This new person will not

reject morality; he or she will reject only the negative
morality of the herd. Goal for humanity is to become
ubermensch. He is psychologically strong and is not
concerned with other worldliness.
ii-Nietzsche thought religious system such as Christianity
solely concern with other worldliness. The idea of heaven,
and hell pull people away from this world it would make
them distant from our earth and concerned solely with the
world that they did not live in the superman will only focus
on this world. He said “I regard Christianity as the most fatal
and seductive lie that has ever yet existed’’
iii-He will rise above all moralities and value system that were
ones ubiquitous and establish his own values. The superman
will create his own moralities and it would be based on this
life he has lived.
iv-He will not be controlled by a herd mentality following the
morality of a masses because they have been told what is
right and wrong.
v-Superman defines his own morality and define what should
be valued and live by their own moral code.
vi-Superman bring own meaning to a meaningless world. This
is the goal for mankind we donot need god to bring meaning
to our life we find meaning by striving to become the
superman. Eventually this would lead an atheist or agnostic
away from nihilism.
vii- Superperson who represents the highest level of
development and expression of physical, intellectual, and
emotional strength.
viii-The Superperson will be the truly free person for whom
nothing is forbidden except what obstructs the Will to Power.

3.7-Nietzsche did not think that his Superperson would be a

tyrant:
i-To be sure, there would be much of the Dionysian element
within the Superperson. But these passions would be
controlled, thereby harmonizing the animal nature with the
intellect, and giving style to his or her behaviour. We should
not confuse such a Superperson with a totalitarian bully.
His ideal person would have to possess a balanced unity of
the Dionysian and Apollonian elements.

4-Problem with Nietzsche philosophy

1- If each person has their own morality in this world then it
will inevitably lead to clashes and anarchy. How could such a
world function. Karl Pooper Book ‘’Open Societies and its
enemies’’