Nihilism, Death of God, and Existentialism: Key Concepts
Nihilism and the Death of God
Nihilism is the devaluation of life at the hands of the real world. This world is deemed worthless because it has transferred all value to another world. Nihilism is also a will to power decadent reactive, which, by dint of not wanting anything, gives up. Just wanting nothing means the loss of all critical values. The transfer of securities to the transcendent world has led to the nihilism of Western culture. Zarathustra is the harbinger of the death of God, having discovered
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Problems and Complexities
Problem: Questions, difficulties, or obstacles for which a theoretical or practical solution is uncertain.
Complex: Part or parcel of reality that is difficult to describe; the way in which multi-component parts are structured.
Understanding and Reflection
To Understand: To capture something directly through thought.
To Reflect on Something: To consider something determinedly; to concentrate and pay attention to a problem or an object.
Universal and Epistemological Concepts
Universals:
Read MoreRealism and Liberalism in International Relations
Basic Realist Ideas
- Pessimistic view of human nature.
- Conviction that international relations are conflictual and that international conflicts are resolved by war.
- High esteem for the values of national security and state survival.
- No faith in the fact that there can be progress in international politics which is comparable to that in domestic political life.
- These are pervasive ideas.
Classical Realism
- Traditional approach to international relations.
- It is a normative approach; there exist various ways
Marx’s Influences: Key Thinkers and Their Impact
Heraclitus: Dialectics and the World
Heraclitus used dialectics to explain the world and humanity.
Democritus and 18th-Century French Materialism
Democritus and the French materialists of the 18th century represent classical materialism. Marx criticized this for being abstract and mechanistic, reducing the subject to mechanical laws. Marx advanced beyond this with dialectical materialism.
Hegel: Dialectic and Alienation
For Hegel, alienation is the process by which the Idea becomes something radically
Read MoreEmpiricism: Knowledge Through Experience and Ideas
Empiricism: The Foundation of Knowledge
Empiricism, a philosophical stance, emphasizes that knowledge originates from sensory experience. It critiques doctrines that oppose this view, focusing on the validity of knowledge derived from our senses. If an idea stems from sense experience, it gains credibility, as experience forms the basis of all knowledge. Empiricists reject deductive reasoning and favor inductive methods based on the combination and association of ideas to form general statements.
Read MoreDescartes’ Proof of Material Things and Rules of Method
Existence of Material Things
Once it has been shown that the thinking subject (*res cogitans*) and God (now infinite) exist, we can show the existence of the world (*res extensa*). To prove its existence, Descartes appeals to the existence of God. This reasoning is as follows: Since God has given me a powerful inclination to believe that the ideas I have come from material things, and God would not be God if He were to deceive me, it is therefore clear that there are things that cause within me the
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