Nietzsche: Nihilism, Superman, and Eternal Return
Nihilism
According to Nietzsche, the term that defines the history of European culture, or Western culture, is nihilism. As understood by Nietzsche, the history of the West is the story of a decline. This decline has resulted in the will to nothingness. Nihilism is based on the Christian-moral interpretation of the world, which is not only the Church but throughout the culture: in philosophy, politics, etc. Identifying the true Christian God in just another world where the truth lies, logic is implicit
Read MoreUnderstanding Language, Knowledge, and Philosophical Models
Language and Knowledge
Language is a tool to express our thoughts and ideas, to communicate with others. Knowledge is also an instrument that aims to understand reality. Language and knowledge are intimately related, since we express our knowledge through language and describe aspects of the reality that surrounds and shapes us.
Fundamentals of Knowing
Knowledge is the ability of our mind to connect with the outside world and understand it, establishing relationships between three key elements: the
Read MoreGreek Philosophy: From Pre-Socratic to Hellenistic
Greek Philosophy: From Pre-Socratic to Hellenistic
Philosophy is the art that seeks to discover rational nature, human beings, the universe, and the changes that occur within them. The term Greek philosophy refers to periods that existed before and after Socrates, namely:
- Pre-Socratic
- Socratic
- Systematic
- Hellenistic
Pre-Socratic Period
The Pre-Socratic, or cosmological, period focused on physis (nature). Philosophers sought to rationally understand the origin and changes occurring in nature over time to
Plato’s Allegory of the Sun and the Cave: Metaphysics and Epistemology
Plato’s Allegory of the Sun
In this allegory, Plato attempts to explain the concept of the Good by comparing it to the sun. In the sensible world, the sun provides light and life to all sentient beings. Similarly, in the world of Ideas, the Good serves a comparable function, granting all ideas the possibility of existing and being knowable.
Plato explains that for sight and visibility, one needs more than just the sense of sight and an object. Light is also necessary. Likewise, ideas cannot be known
Read MoreApollonian and Dionysian in Nietzsche’s ‘The Birth of Tragedy’
The Apollonian and the Dionysian and the Problem of Socrates
In his 1872 work *The Birth of Tragedy*, Friedrich Nietzsche tries to revolutionize the rationalist view that had the Greek world in his time.
Nietzsche says that it is not political philosophy or the height of Greek culture, but the tragedy is the ripest fruit of the Hellenic world. In the tragedy, the confluence of two forces that had inspired the entire Greek production: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. Apollo, as god of sleep, light,
Read MoreDescartes: Rationalism and the Method in 17th-Century Philosophy
René Descartes: A Philosophical Revolution
Life and Context
Born in the 16th century in La Haye, Touraine, René Descartes studied at La Flèche before enlisting as a volunteer at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. A series of three dreams led him to conceive the foundations for his groundbreaking invention: analytic geometry and the method. He was born in a time of great intellectual upheaval, where the authority of the Church and Aristotelian scholasticism were being questioned.
Major Works
- 1637: