PHILOSOPHICAL OR HUMAN

NATURE ON NIETSZCHE’S WORK

Reported by: Manilyn Flordeliza
• His most important books include "Menschliches, Allzumenschliches"
("Human, All Too Human") of 1878, "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft" ("The
Gay Science") of 1882, "Also sprach Zarathustra" ("Thus Spoke
Zarathustra") of 1883 - 1885, "Jenseits von Gut und Böse" ("Beyond
Good and Evil") of 1886, "Zur Genealogie der Moral" ("On the
Genealogy of Morality") of 1887, and "Götzen-Dämmerung" ("Twilight
of the Idols") and "Der Antichrist" ("The Antichrist"), both of 1888. It is
in these books that Nietzsche develops some of his major themes
including his "immoralism", his view that "God is dead", his notions of
the "will to power" and of the "Übermensch", and his suggestion of
"eternal return".
 GOD IS DEAD

• "God is dead," a rejection of Christianity as a

meaningful force in contemporary life.
• The famous statement "God is dead" occurs in
several of Nietzsche's works (notably in "The Gay
Science" of 1882), and has led most commentators
to regard Nietzsche as an Atheist.
• He argued that modern science and the increasing
secularization of European society had effectively
"killed" the Christian God, who had served as the
basis for meaning and value in the West for more
than thousand years.
GOD IS DEAD?
• Pro: Allows us to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
• Nietszche resented Christianity because their system of
faith is harmful to society because it effectively allowed
the weak to rule the strong, stifled artistic creativity, and,
critically, suppressed the "will to power" which he saw as
the driving force of human character.
• In his "Beyond Good and Evil" in particular he
argued that we must go beyond the simplistic
Christian idea of Good and Evil in our consideration
of morality.
GOD IS DEAD?
• Con: the death of God may lead beyond bare
Perspectivism to outright Nihilism, the belief that
nothing has any importance and that life lacks
purpose
• Solution: His solution to the vacuum left by the
absence of religion was essentially to “be
yourself”.
 WILL TO POWER

• An important element of Nietzsche's philosophical

outlook is the concept of the "will to power",
which provides a basis for understanding
motivation in human behavior.
 UBERMENSCH

• Another concept important to an understanding of

Nietzsche's thought is that of the "Übermensch",
introduced in his 1883 book "Also sprach
Zarathustra" ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra"). Variously
translated as "superman", "superhuman" or
"overman" (although the word is actually gender-
neutral in German),
 UBERMENSCH

• This refers to the person who lives above and

beyond pleasure and suffering, treating both
circumstances equally, because joy and suffering
are, in his view, inseparable.
 UBERMENSCH

Characteristics of Superman
• Create own values
• Create own morality
• Independently minded
• Can be selfish
• Not humble but delight in their own abilities
• Do not need God to bring meaning
 ETERNAL RETURN

• “Eternal return" (or "eternal recurrence")

• Nietzsche suggested that if a person could imagine their
life repeating over and over again for all eternity, each
moment recurring in exactly the same way, then those
who could embrace the idea cheerfully are, ipso facto,
leading the right sort of life, and those who recoil with
horror from this idea have not yet learned to love and
value life sufficiently.
 ETERNAL RETURN

• "Ecce Homo": "what does not kill me, makes me

stronger".
• Amor Fati (Love of one’s fate)
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