Nietzsche and Hume: Key Philosophers of Their Time

Posted on Dec 11, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Nietzsche: A Philosophical Journey Through Time

Nietzsche’s Context: Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Röcken in 1844. From 1858 to 1864, he was trained in the humanistic study of the classics. He then studied theology and classical philosophy at the University of Bonn. In 1868, he met Richard Wagner and admired his free spirit, seeing in him a potential German resurgence of classical values against Christianity. In 1870, he wrote The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music. During the following years, he separated from Wagner because his work Parsifal seemed decadent. He became a recluse, and from 1878 to 1888, he developed his body of work. He died from a stroke in 1900.

Nietzsche’s work can be divided into three periods:

Romantic Period (1870-1878)

During this period, Nietzsche was under the influence of Wagner and Schopenhauer. His works from this time include:

The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music: Written in honor of Wagner, this work compares pre-Socratic culture with that of Socrates, contrasting Dionysus and Apollo. It offers a radical critique of Socratic and Platonic philosophy, which Nietzsche considered decadent.
On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense: This work addresses the problem of truth and seeks to resolve the issue with the will to truth.
Untimely Meditations: This work is divided into four parts. The first is dedicated to Strauss and attacks German culture after the 1870 war and the success of the German Empire. The second critiques the historical method, which he saw as a symptom of cultural decline. The third and fourth are devoted to Schopenhauer and Wagner and discuss the culture of the future.

Positivist Period (1878-1883)

Here, Nietzsche attacks religion, metaphysics, and art, showing their illusory nature. His works from this period include:

Human, All Too Human: This work demonstrates that knowledge and human experience can be explained without metaphysical assumptions. It is written in memory of Voltaire, in the form of aphorisms and sentences.
Aurora: Thoughts on Moral Prejudices: A critique of morality.
The Gay Science: This work celebrates the liberation of man from his slavery, unmasking the holy figures, artists, and scientists. It denies the transcendent meaning of those ideals and introduces the concepts of “eternal return” and the “death of God.”

Critical Period (1883-1889)

In this period, Nietzsche develops his most original ideas, such as the concept of the Übermensch (Superman), and the most critical part of his philosophy, “the philosophy of the hammer,” which aims to eliminate the theoretical dogmatism of all values and make a radical transmutation of values. His works from this period include:

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A poetic and prophetic work that attempts to be a new Bible, using metaphor.
Beyond Good and Evil: A critique of philosophy, religion, and morality.
On the Genealogy of Morality: Continues the themes begun in Aurora and critiques the traditional values of Western culture.
Twilight of the Idols: Subtitled “How to Philosophize with a Hammer,” the title is an irony directed at Wagner. Nietzsche declares war against the eternal idols, but the basic theme is a critique of the ontological aspect of Western metaphysics.
Antichrist: An attack on religion, especially Christian morality.
Ecce Homo: An autobiography.
The Will to Power: Contains the four fundamental ideas of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Nihilism appears as the situation of our time, initiating the process of self-destruction of the philosophical, religious, and moral ideals criticized in his earlier works.

The Twilight of the Idols is subtitled “How to Philosophize with a Hammer,” an ironic reference to Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods. This book presents Nietzsche’s most important ontological ideas:

The first section offers forty-four short aphorisms in which Nietzsche criticizes women, morality, and other topics.
The second section is a monograph on the problem of Socrates, a central theme in The Birth of Tragedy.
The third section, “Reason in Philosophy,” criticizes metaphysics and explores the idiosyncrasies of the philosopher, summarizing his hatred of the very notion of evolution and his hatred of life.

Hume: Enlightenment Thinker and Skeptic

Context of Hume: David Hume was born on April 26, 1711, in Edinburgh. He studied law but felt an aversion to it, preferring philosophy. After spending three years in France, he wrote his Treatise of Human Nature, which received a hostile reception. He rewrote it in a more accessible form, resulting in two works: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. In 1745, his application for the chair of moral philosophy at Edinburgh University was rejected due to his reputation as a skeptic.

In 1748, he published An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, which covers the first part of his Treatise of Human Nature. During a stay in the countryside, he wrote Political Discourses and An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. In 1757, he published The Natural History of Religion, and from 1754 to 1762, The History of England, which substantially increased his wealth. Hume was a historian, economist, statesman, and philosopher, jealous of his independence and a good friend to his friends. In 1751, he published An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, and in 1777, The Life of David Hume, Esq., Written by Himself. His Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, written before 1752, and essays on the immortality of the soul and suicide were published posthumously.

Hume’s Philosophical Aims

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is divided into twelve sections:

Of the Different Species of Philosophy
Of the Origin of Ideas
Of the Association of Ideas
Sceptical Doubts concerning the Operations of the Understanding
Sceptical Solution of these Doubts
Of Probability
Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion
Of Liberty and Necessity
Of the Reason of Animals
Of Miracles
Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State
Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy

Hume’s philosophy shares Locke’s concern for moral philosophy and respect for Newton, whose experimental method, based on experience and observation, he applied to the analysis of knowledge. He shared the rejection of dogmatism of those who misuse reason to demonstrate absolute certainty in knowledge. From these positions, Hume developed a moral philosophy through a critique of knowledge that would culminate in a radical critique of traditional morality and metaphysics and a defense of tolerance, probability versus belief, and dogmatism. Hume’s purpose coincides with the ideals of the Enlightenment, which proclaims freedom, tolerance, and the suppression of superstition against the fanaticism that had fueled wars and intolerance in Europe.