Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Blog #57 - Nietzsche's Philosophy


According to French philosopher, Luc Ferry, the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche is the zenith or pinnacle of Postmodern thought.  By this, Ferry means that Nietzsche tried to destroy two modernist convictions: 1. the belief that mankind is at the center of our moral and political world; 2. reason is the "irresistible force for emancipation and progress...we are going to become ever freer and happier (Ferry)."

"Improve mankind?  That is the last thing that I of all people will promise to do.  Don't expect new idols from me; let the old idols learn what it costs to have feet of clay.  To overthrow idols - my world for "ideals" - that rather is my business" - Nietzsche

Before the Enlightenment, modern science (by modern, I mean heliocentric world, Copernicus and onward) had taken away a lot of the mystery of the cosmos and also weakened religious authority by giving us explanations for why things occurred.  During the Enlightenment, we read that some of the leading thinkers became deists (belief in the clockmaker God) because they had a difficult time believing in God who intervened in human affairs.  Democracy and freedom were the ways of the future and considered signs of progress. 


"God is dead" - religion
Nietzsche, on the other hand, was ready to destroy.  he felt that all ideals, religious or other-wise, insisted on assuming a here-after that is better than what we have now.  Conservatives would be skewered by Nietzsche because they believe that we can learn from the past to improve tomorrow.  Liberals would also fall under Nietzsche's hammer because they tend to foster progress as a goal for a better, future society.   For FN, nothing exists outside our reality, no heaven or hell, and all of our ideals - he feels - of politics, ethics, and religion are "fables that turn their back on life prior to turning against life (Ferry)."  He is famous for stating "God is dead" because he felt that we can't learn anything from religion.  He is not a systems builder like Plato, Descartes, or Berkeley.  He is a systems destroyer for the sake of making a stronger society that doesn't coddle the weak or follow the herd mentality. 

Behind every value and every ideal, Nietzsche found hidden judgements.  There is no objective or disinterested view point b/c everything, everyone has a bias from which they judge life.  All of our "judgements, all our utterances, all the sentences we employ, all our ideas, are expressions of our vital energies, emanations of our inner life and in no sense abstract entities, autonomous and independent of the forces within (Ferry)."  And since philosophers want to examine what's behind the curtain, what they will find, in FN's opinion, is a void. 

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Art and the Meaning of Life
Since there's a void or an abyss that Nietzsche talks of, trying to impose reason on this chaos of varying opinions and values is a waste of time.  One of the only ways to make sense of the world is to be creative, to construct your life as a piece of art.  For him, self-expression was the meaning of life.  More important than reason were passion, love of adventure, artistic creativity, and an effort to go beyond rational principles.  If a creative individual rejects the disintegration and decadence of modern society, the rules of that society should no longer apply.  There's no need to justify an artist's principles, because he / she is attempting to refute the works of art that came before him/her. 

Morality
Lastly, Nietzsche's philosophy includes something called a master - slave morality.  Published in The Genealogy of Morality, he says that we've forgotten the morality of the past, where things used to be judged by the consequences of an action, and not the utilitarian idea of whether or not an action is useful.  Master morality is determined by what is noble, courageous, truthfulness and creativity - that is good.  What is bad in the Master Morality is weak, cowardly, timid, and petty.  The noble man knows morals as "what is harmful to me is harmful to society." 

Slave morality, on the other hand, is a reaction to oppression, it villanizes the oppressors and in many ways is the opposite of master morality. Slave morality is pessimistic and cynical and tries to subvert master morality.  What is best for the society is "good," not what is good for the strong.  Christianity and democracy are part of this slave morality -- turning the other cheek, humility, charity, and pity.  Since the strong and noble are few in numbers, according to Nietzsche, the slaves / weak convince them that slavery is wrong.  Democracy is the high point of slave morality b/c of its "obsession" with equality and freedom. 


Pick one of the three areas that Nietzsche expounds upon (religion, art/meaning of life, and morality) and discuss whether or not you agree with him and why.  Some of these positions have pitfalls if they're applied today, but maybe that's what he wanted. 

Due Friday night by 11:59 p.m. (February 15th).
250 words minimum. 

12 comments:

  1. Jessica Mooney
    2-14-13
    1st Wickersham

    “God is dead”-Religion
    I would have to strongly disagree with Nietzsche’s view on religion. Nietzsche said God is dead because he felt we cannot learn anything from religion. I believe this statement is incorrect because most of society bases our morals off of what we learn in church or any other holy venue. Also from the Bible we learn about humans. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the apple, we learned that humans are sinners and are not expected to be perfect. God has many teachings throughout the Bible on character and the difference between right and wrong.
    Another one of Nietzsche’s ideas that I have to disagree with would be that there is not something better waiting for us when we die. I am Roman Catholic and therefore believe in what the Bible says that there is a Heaven and a Hell. Throughout life, we as humans work towards being worthy to enter into Heaven when we die and join Jesus. We try to avoid sinning as much as possible (but are expected to sin because we are human) and go to reconciliation to ask God for forgiveness when we have sinned. We try to follow the Ten Commandments as closing as possible and attend church every Sunday. I strongly believe that God has something planned for us beyond earth.
    I am not a fan of Nietzsche’s beliefs or his reputation that he is a system destroyer. Unlike Nietzsche, I believe that we can learn from the past and improve tomorrow and that that progress with help improve society.

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  2. William S.
    “God is dead.”- Religion
    To be honest I don’t really agree with any of this guy’s theories, but I guess the one that I most agree with would be his theory on religion and that “God is dead.” The biggest reason that I do kind of agree with him is that like him, I am kind of skeptical about the whole afterlife and God thing. Even though I do believe that there is a God, I don’t think that a lot of the stuff that Religions say about him and the afterlife, like heaven and hell aren’t true. But, I don’t agree that the Left Wing is bad, because I think that progress is really good. And furthermore, I don’t agree that there is nothing outside our reality, I just think that there is not the same stuff that many religious people think there are. I do agree though with his theory of hidden judgments because I think that subconsciously, even without meaning to, we can be biased to someone or something just by our nature and how we are raised. Also I don’t like that he thinks that philosophers’ work is for nothing because all they will find is “a void’ if they unveil the meaning of life. But, one thing that really peeves me about Nietzsche is that it doesn’t seem like he really wants to fix anything or try to make a better society, he just kind of points out stuff that’s wrong in society now. So I guess in the end I think he is kind of a cynical a**hole.

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  3. Nietzsche believed that self-expression was the meaning of life. I agree with expression because when one does not express himself/herself there is a void that can’t be filled by anything else. His ideas on passion, love of adventure, artistic creativity, and an effort to go beyond rational principles are also similar to mine. I feel that since the meaning of life is self-expression, it is almost required to value these ideas. Without artistic creativity or passion, society would fall. Even though I share some ideas with Nietzsche, I don’t agree with all of them. I don’t think that if a creative individual rejects the disintegration and decadence of modern society, the rules don’t apply to him. The reason societies function is because everyone follows the same rules. When people start ignoring the laws and rules, chaos ensues. I do think that when an artist is creative and connects to his/her work, they form a stronger sense of him or herself.

    My views on religion differ from his. Although I’m not religious, I don’t believe that religion has no good. The Bible may not be accurate, but that still doesn’t mean that everything in it I bad. The lessons that the Bible teaches can help people become a better person.

    Hunter Osorio

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  4. God is Dead – Religion

    I don’t agree with Nietzsche on this. To me, all of Nietzsche’s ideas are pretty pessimistic and would be hard to get behind, but this one I can’t twist in any way that could make it tolerable. As a Catholic, I believe that there is a better life in the here-after. It’s an ultimate goal, in addition to the regular satisfaction of doing good deeds that encourages people to be at their best. Religion is also a basis for morals of many people with a clean cut definition of what’s right and wrong. Even if people are only doing good deeds to get into heaven, which I think isn’t right; they’re still doing good deeds because they’re following some morals outlined by their belief. Outside of belief, the statement that we can’t learn anything from religion is false. Throughout history, many religious followers have made contributions to science and art through their religion. Catholic scientists for example, are considered the fathers of many scientific fields such as physics, acoustics, chemistry, anatomy and others. The Catholic Church has supported science research since the Middle Ages, and historian Lawrence Principe wrote that “It’s clear from historical record that the Catholic Church has been probably the largest single and longest term patron of science in history, that many contributors to the Scientific Revolution were Catholic, and that several Catholic institutions and perspectives were the key influences upon the rise of modern science.” And that’s just Catholicism; there are many other examples of science and art by religious members or followers through all religions, and you would think someone who takes art so seriously like Nietzsche would have more of an open mind, rather than saying you can learn nothing from religion.

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  5. I would say that I pretty much agree with Nietzche in religion because I’m not a religious person at all. I don’t believe that we can learn anything from religion. I think we try to use it as a learning opportunity when there is nothing to learn from it. I believe that we can learn from the past though so that we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. It doesn’t mean that I think we should look to religion for everything. I believe that religion is a way of people to have hope and feel like they are doing good morally, but who is someone else to tell you that. You and only you know if what you did is moral or ethical. Another thing I agree with Nietzche about is that there are no facts in this world. There are only interpretations. There will always be a bias. I think that even though when people think they aren’t being biased they just can't control that urge inside them and they are just being biased without realizing it. That is why there are no facts. It’s because people see things differently and interpret things differently. What is a fact for one person might not be a fact for somebody else. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder so are facts. You can never truly know what one thinks or sees because we are all different and we all function in different ways from one another.
    Louis Robinson

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  6. Art and the meaning of life

    FN is absolutely correct in the fact that every perspective, opinion, and even fact is bias, by a lot or just a little. Everybody has their own body and mind, and no two are the same. This creates a barrier because one person can never see outside of their own perspective, and can never really be unbiased or neutral. I think that people can try to be unbiased, and can come pretty close to it, but can never be 100% unbiased. School is one of the places that should be more of an unbiased place of education. At school, students should be taught how to think as opposed to what to think, what facts to memorize and how to get high test scores. The curriculum set-forth in American schools is completely biased to what the administration perceives as important knowledge, but it also rests on the shoulders of the teachers to try to remove the bias. Some teachers do well, but then again a lot are just as blinded themselves.
    Because everybody has their own train of thought, opinions, and perspectives, every single piece of art is unique and beautiful. To me, art is a way that I can express myself in a way that words don't even compare to. Other though have equally important outlets too, some people can only express inner thoughts in music, and others in literature. One is not better than the other, but one person may be better at one than another. Mine happens to be visual art, and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have that outlet. I think it is courageous of FN to put passion and love above rational and reason. In my opinion, it is important to have a balance of both reason and passion, too much of both can lead to chaos or depression. People today need to learn how to fit their passions and desires into a realistic world, and that is a life time struggle.

    Kristina Elkins

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  7. Art and the meaning of life

    Since there's a void or an abyss that Nietzsche talks of, trying to impose reason on this chaos of
    I think I agree with Nietzsche and his opinions regarding art and the meaning of life. I think that in life, it's important to be an individual and in some regards express yourself as the unique person you are. What I think is interesting that he talks about is how the meaning of life and the way in which people express themselves can diminish some rules of society. I agree with him here because as society constantly changes, I feel as if different kinds of self expression are becoming more evident and there shouldn't be a specific standard of acceptance. When he talks about how if someone rejects an idea, then certain rules shouldn't have to apply to an individual, I tend to agree with him in that aspect because I think individuality and self-expression has no limitations and that a huge factor of self expression is expressing yourself in a way that is unique and doesn't need to have personal guidelines. I also agree with him about how there's no need to justify an artist's principles because I think that logically, there's no need to judge and disagree with somebody else just because history says something different. Overall, this is one aspect of his beliefs I agree with but I think he tends to be a very controversial and cynical person.

    Emily Elconin

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  8. I agree with Nietzsche philosophy on art and the meaning of life. He believed that your life should be constructed as a piece of art. Self impression was very important to him and passion,adventure,and artistic creativity were also valued by him. Nietzsche thought that there was no need to justify your actions as an artist.

    I believe that Nietzsche's philosophy on art was very true. We always value art and the culture of it. So if we thought of life as art,we would value and appreciate it more. When we think of art we think of beauty and passion. Nietzsche believed that we should live our lives as if we were a piece of art. We believe that art such as paintings, always tells the truth. Maybe if we looked at life like art we could be more honest people. However, Nietzsche's opinion on art could be conflicting in todays society. Self expression is important, but thinking of life as art could cause us to be to free and not serious. We would take life as just an experience and adventure.

    Life is suppose to be about experiencing things, but life should be at some time taken serious. Looking at life as art is too broad. Yes we should have self expression, but having reason is important. Nietzsche's philosophy on art and meaning of life has some positive aspects, but could be have some negative affects in today's society.

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  9. God is Dead – Religion

    I don’t agree with Nietzsche on this. To me, all of Nietzsche’s ideas are pretty pessimistic and would be hard to get behind, but this one I can’t twist in any way that could make it tolerable. As a Catholic, I believe that there is a better life in the here-after. It’s an ultimate goal, in addition to the regular satisfaction of doing good deeds that encourages people to be at their best. Religion is also a basis for morals of many people with a clean cut definition of what’s right and wrong. Even if people are only doing good deeds to get into heaven, which I think isn’t right; they’re still doing good deeds because they’re following some morals outlined by their belief. Outside of belief, the statement that we can’t learn anything from religion is false. Throughout history, many religious followers have made contributions to science and art through their religion. Catholic scientists for example, are considered the fathers of many scientific fields such as physics, acoustics, chemistry, anatomy and others. The Catholic Church has supported science research since the Middle Ages, and historian Lawrence Principe wrote that “It’s clear from historical record that the Catholic Church has been probably the largest single and longest term patron of science in history, that many contributors to the Scientific Revolution were Catholic, and that several Catholic institutions and perspectives were the key influences upon the rise of modern science.” And that’s just Catholicism; there are many other examples of science and art by religious members or followers through all religions, and you would think someone who takes art so seriously like Nietzsche would have more of an open mind, rather than saying you can learn nothing from religion.

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  10. As far as Nietzsche's view on religion goes, I would have to agree with him. I believe in god and that good comes from religion and god himself, but over the years church's and other religious facilities have strayed away from the guide lines that should be leading the church into good morality. Nietzsche mentions that he believes "God is dead" and while a slight over statement in my opinion I still agree that the church has gone from more of a place of hope and forgiveness, into a place of profit and greed, or even as far as a criminal organization. The goal of the church is good, but in my opinion the way they are trying to get there and the people and ideas they destroy on their rise to the top seems highly immoral and not very moral. So in some ways god is dead, but the idea of hope for forgiveness and love from god still shows in almost every church. As well as agreeing with his view on religion, I would disagree on his view of facts in the world. Of course there are facts in the world, no matter who interprets the statement or object. If I say 2+2=4, that is a fact. Now on a deeper level such as beauty and love, or even color, I can see where Nietzsche may be coming from. A person could be beautiful to one or ugly to another it is up to a persons opinion which then turns into a fact, in their mind. So yet again I will have to agree with the idea of some facts are interpretable to each person differently, but to go so far as to say that there are no facts in this world is completely ridiculous, in my humble opinion of course.
    Kevin S.

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  11. I interpreted the art and the meaning of life and I would agree with Nietzsche. When we look at what is left of history, we have a lot of art in hand. We studied the renaissance and how so much was expressed through art at that time. Art is a form of expression that people have being using over the years that is important. In the present, it is our ways of analyzing and understanding how, at the time, people viewed certain things. Everyone can manipulate in their own way which is what makes it so special. Nietzsche looked into how people represent and how, in some cases, it diminishes some rules of our society. The world changes constantly and so does its history. But the art should not be put down because of it. Somebody created it and expressed their thoughts through it. It shouldn’t be judged because everyone has a right to voice it. I find Nietzsche extremely cynical but in this belief, he does allow the idea that people can be whoever ever they desire and express it. I think art is a beautiful thing because it leaves trace of someone else’s way of interpreting the meaning of life, it even colors our present. When people put down art and frown upon it, I always wonder what their standards of ‘good art’ are. In that case, they are calling into their own selfish way of interpreting life. There should be no justifications to it.

    Ophelie

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  12. When Nietzsche says God is dead it almost seems like he is saying that religion is dead. This is a really ignorant thing for someone to say even if they aren’t religious. I strongly disagree with his thoughts on this subject. When he says there are no facts only interpretations it’s like he’s saying yea you can believe in God but some me the evidence he is real! The evidence that he is real is faith and that is what Christians have to have to be believers of God. Clearly this man doesn’t have any faith; he needs to see something himself to believe it. Clearly he is an atheist who doesn’t bother me because people can have their own views, but the way he talks about religion is kind of ridiculous. I disagree with his thoughts in many ways, I believe like you said in the description in the blog that we can learn from our past to improve tomorrow, it’s the same concept of that you have to make mistakes to get better because you learn from your mistakes. Nietzsche may dismiss religion but I think that religion helps makes people better people, I think that it gives you morals that you over wise wouldn’t have. These morals that religion teaches you makes you live and much more better pure and happy life because you know that you are doing the things that you do for God. Overall I do not agree with him on this topic, I think that he is flat out wrong but everyone has their own opinions.

    Chase

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