Understanding Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Key Concepts Explained
Criticism of the Moral: When Nietzsche, at age 24, was appointed extraordinary professor at the University of Basel, Richard Wagner asked him to write a doctoral thesis, which he titled The Birth of Tragedy in the Spirit of Music. Nietzsche, a philologist, realized that this work encompasses two important aspects of Greek culture: the Apollonian element (representing unity, harmony, reason, and measure) and the Dionysian element (representing multiplicity and life, which is not subject to the constraints of reason or harmony). These elements manifest in two forms: drunkenness and sleep. For Nietzsche, the wisdom of the Greeks lies in knowing how to connect these two elements. The Apollonian element remains, while the Dionysian is lost. The culprits are Socrates (who believed that man should enhance the rational over the sensitive, deeming the latter negative), Plato, the Jews (who he felt invested aristocratic values), and Christianity (which rejects the sensible and prioritizes the spirit over the body). According to Nietzsche, if we do not recover the sensible, we lose one of life’s essential values. From Socrates to Jesus Christ, there is a decline: monotheism. Having diverse perspectives on humanity is the condition of freedom. Polytheism has always represented the freedom of the human spirit.
The Death of God: When Nietzsche speaks of God’s death (referring to the Christian God), he means that belief in God is dead. For Nietzsche, man creates God; belief in God is meant to provide comfort to those suffering from the existing poverty in the world. After the publication of this work, he faced strong criticism, leading to empty classes and causing his professional failure.
Zarathustra: This work compiles all of Nietzsche’s thinking. He denies an entire philosophy and religion, feeling alone and isolated. Traditional metaphysics claimed that ethics is grounded in an immutable world, but Nietzsche argues that such a world does not exist. Man needs to invent immutability and permanence—concepts that do not exist because man is in a state of becoming, which is infinite and eternal. Man invents stable values; if we accept fate, we would go mad.
Will to Power: “It is irrational:” Reason is neither true nor a deep dimension of reality, as the world is chaos, change, evolution, and death. Reason serves man’s instincts and emotions. “It is unconsciousness.” For Nietzsche, we must seek the same values in life. Nietzsche has his own moral framework, which is neither immoral nor against ethics.
The Superman: There are two different moralities for man: the morality of the master (who establishes his own moral codes) and the morality of the slave (who adheres to moral codes he dares not confront). To establish the first morality, there must be a creative superman who embodies the will to power. The superman rejects slave morality, which is followed by the majority. He has the capacity to create value by inventing moral standards that align with the true world of life. He embraces risk and loves the intensity of life. In short, he is the strongest affirmation of life and the master of his own existence. The spirit undergoes three transformations to become a man and then a superman: “The Camel” represents those who settle for blind obedience. “The Lion,” who is not content to be a camel, becomes a lion, the great denier of traditional values. “The Child:” The lion transforms into a child, who lives free from prejudice and creates his own values.
Nihilism: Nietzsche distinguishes between two types: -Active: This nihilistic philosophy attempts to demonstrate that dominant values are an invention. Nietzsche proposes to destroy all current values and create new ones. -Passive: This perspective does not believe in any value, as values can only exist if God exists, and he does not.
The Eternal Return: The myth of eternal return appears in the song of Alpha and Omega, a canticle to life that is always found and always loved. According to this thesis, everything is destined to be repeated infinitely. To support this, Nietzsche argues that since the forces in the world are finite and time is infinite, the combinations that form things are finite, but a finite combination is condemned to repeat forever in infinite time.