Transcript Friedrich Nietzsche - Bayt al

Friedrich Nietzsche
The Limit of Modernity
Aphorism
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Nietzsche writes his works not
systematically. He fights against System.
So, he writes his thought in aphorism.
This literary form consists of short
paragraph that formulates certain idea.
The collection of aphorisms has an
internal coherence, but they are fragments
that represent separate ideas.
Die Geburt der Tragoedie aus dem
Geist der Musik (The Birth of Tragedy
from the Spirit of Music)
In this early work Nietzsche analyses two kinds
of mentality that dominated Greek Culture:
 1. Dionysian Mentality: the inclination of Greek
culture to break any border and norm, and to
lose self control. This mentality follows the basic
forces of life
 2. Apollonian Mentality: reflects the principle of
individuation, self control, order, equilibrium.
This mentality in the Greek culture kept the
balance and control over the Dionysian
mentality.
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Decadence in the Western Civilization
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According to Nietzsche the decadence began
when the dialecticians like Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle appeared in the history of western
civilization. The spirit of dialectics destroyed the
primordial instincts and life forces of man and
culture. Nietzsche glorifies the pre-Socratic
thinker as “the republic of genius” because the
people like Heraclitus, Thales, Empedocles etc.
were authentic and creative seekers that didn’t
sell their thought to the universal principles.
Beyond History
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Nietzsche differentiates three attitudes toward
history:
1. “Geschichtlich” (historical): memory is needed
to our survival. We need history to remember
the past and stabilize our identity.
2. “Ungeschichtlich” (unhistorical): But if it is
necessary, we must be able to forget the past
for our happiness.
3. “Uebergeschichtlich” (super-historical): the
past can teach us the meaning of the future and
anticipate the future.
This view is then adopted by the hermeneutic
Critique on Democracy
Democracy, socialism and nationalism are the
spirit of mediocrity. They are the enemies of the
vital forces and authenticity of the individual.
The rationalization in the western civilization is
the permanent destruction. So, democracy is a
manifestation of decadence in the western
culture.
 After Plato Nietzsche is the sharp critic of
democracy.
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Genealogy of Morality
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For Nietzsche morality reflects the emotions that
is hidden behind the rationality. The claim of
justice, for example, is nothing but a cry of
‘ressentiment’. Morality and objectivity is the
mask of affection. So, we can trace the moral
claims like a genealogy and find the interests
behind them. The philosophical systems are
nothing but the confessions of the philosophers
on their own life.
Herren- and Herdenmoral
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In his work Jenseits vom Guten und Boesen Nietzsche
tells us about two kinds of people and two kinds of
morality, i.e. the class of masters and slaves.
Master morality: don’t show what ought to be done, but
what is really done. It is the expression of self esteem,
and not the universal principles. The main categories are
not ‘bad and good’, but ‘high and low’.
Crowd morality: Good doesn’t mean ‘strong’, but
‘tenderness’, ‘mercy’, ‘sympathy’ , ‘humility’. This morality
is reactive and has its resource in the fear of the master.
Umwertung aller Werte
(Transvaluation of all values)
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In Genealogie der Moral Nietzsche describes
how the transvaluation of values happens in the
Christianity. The slave class cannot revenge
actually the power of the master. Also, they
revenge it in the form of imagination. There is
moral revolution against the class of masters.
What was formerly ‘strong’ and ‘high’ now
becomes ‘bad’ and ‘evil’. What is now good is
‘humility’, ‘love’ and ‘sympathy’. But this
transvaluation is nothing but ressentiment.
Nietzsche says that with this transvaluation the
conscience (Gewissen) is invented.
Der Wille zur Macht
The world and we are according to Nietzsche the
will to power (der Wille zur Macht). Contrary to
Schopenhauer Nietzsche doesn’t accept the
Kantian distinction between phenomenal and
noumenal world. The will to power is all
pervasive and heterogeneous life-forces that
express in our psychical moods, physiological
metabolism, chemical reaction, physical
movement, our thought, …It is the process of
becoming of all thing (Werden).
 Knowledge transforms Becoming into Being.
Therefore knowledge is power.
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Perspectivism
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According to Nietzsche there is no
absolute truth. The truth depends on our
interpretations. And our interpretation
depends on our standpoint. The idea of
absolute truth is a fiction that relates to
the will to power. Also, there is no single
truth, but many truths that depend on our
perspective to see them.
Uebermensch [Overman]
In his book Also sprach Zarathustra, Nietzsche
says that the overman is the future species of
human being. The difference between man and
overman is like the difference between man and
ape.
 Overman is an authentic self that says yes to
this world with its tragic or happy sides, dark
and light moments.
 The purpose of civilization is not humanity, but
overman or authentic individual that creates his
own values. He is a combination of Caesar and
Christ in one person.
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The Eternal Recurrence of All thing
Following the first Greek philosophers
Nietzsche believes that our life is an
eternal recurrence. We’ll experience this
life with all its tragic or happy side
precisely again and again.
 This doctrine refuses the idea of
transcendence in all form. If our life is an
eternal recurrence, there is no other life
outside this worldly life.
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God is Dead - Nihilism
If God is dead, then the wide horizon of life is
open to us. We can create our own values. But
the death of God results nihilism, i.e. the values
emptiness. The human being experience lost of
orientation.
 There are two kinds of nihilism: active and
passive. The active nihilism longs for the return
of the morality and values. But the active
nihilism accepts the value vacuum as a form of
emancipation.
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