Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ( who was renowned for the citation " God is stagnant " ) was the boy and grandson of Lutheran ministers . He was expect to keep an eye on their path , but the precocious new Nietzsche had his own melodic theme . And these were enormously influential in the 20th century .
Born in 1844 in a small town near Leipzig , Germany , Nietzsche stand out in school , played and compose medicine and was a buff ofRalph Waldo Emerson ’s essays . His papers on linguistics ( the complex body part and development of languages ) were so impressive that young Nietzsche was call to be the chair of philology at the University of Basel ( Switzerland ) before he even finish his doctorial thesis at the University of Leipzig ( Germany ) . He was only 24 .
The Nietzsche we have sex , however , is n’t the bright student of his early years , but rather the iconoclastic , mustached philosopher at the summit of his cerebral and creative world power . The generator of books and essays with wickedly provocative title like " The Anti - Christ " and " Beyond Good and Evil , " Nietzsche said that the purpose of his work was to " overthrow graven image " and " ideals . " He had no patience for spiritual or philosophic views that looked beyond the earthly , human experience , and joyously attacked conventional fashion of thinking ( including classical philosophical system ) with dagger - like stroke of his playpen .
That said , Nietzsche is n’t for everybody . His prose is playful and musical , but his meaning is often opaque . For exercise , Nietzsche have it off to write aphorisms — short , pithy truisms that would tally nicely on a bumper sticker . But the aphorisms , while clever , often demo more questions than answers . Here are a few from the opening chapter of " Twilight of the graven image " :
Reading Nietzsche , it ’s clear that you ’re in the bearing of a rare wiz , but unravel the significance of his high-minded pronouncements has kept scholarly person arguing for more than a century .
To serve us make sense of Nietzsche ’s unconventional psyche , we get hold of out to Dale Wilkerson , a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and source ofthe excellent entry on Friedrich Nietzschein the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Here are five quote from Nietzsche , starting with the most famous ( and ill-famed ) of them all .
1. “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”
These notoriously controversial lines from " The Gay Science " ( 1882 ) are spoken as part of a strange , allegoric tale . In aphorism 125 of the book , Nietzsche writes of a " madman " who digress into the town grocery crying , " I seek God ! I attempt God ! " The crowd of nonbeliever mock and express joy at the madman , who turn on them and responds , " Whither is God ? I will tell you . We have kill him — you and I. All of us are his murderers . "
To a somebody of religious belief , Nietzsche ’s claim that " God is dead " sounds like an atheist philosopher claim the triumph of humanitarianism over religion , or reason over superstitious notion . But Wilkerson argues that Nietzsche is n’t say that secular humanism or Nietzsche himself has " killed " God .
" There ’s nothing prideful about what Nietzsche is say here , " says Wilkerson . " What he ’s point to is what he think is a historical fact — European society is no longer as pendent upon religion as it once was . "
The second one-half of the 19th century was a time of frightful social , economic and political upheaval . railway line moved people , goods and ideas care never before . previous kingdom throw style to the rise of the nation res publica . And Darwin challenge the traditional religious foundation of creation with his dry land - shattering possibility of evolution .
When Nietzsche articulate that " God is dead , " he ’s not just saying that the authority of the Church has been nullified ( though he think that ) , but rather , there is no such affair any longer as an " downright . " No philosophic absolutes , no coherent absolute , no absolutes in nature , and certainly no religious absolutes like absolute " dependable " or downright " evilness . "
" All of that has been disrupted by the 19th century , " says Wilkerson .
Does that stand for that in the absence of absolute , Nietzsche advocated for strict utilitarianism ( action are " right " if they encourage felicity for the most the great unwashed ) or wanton hedonism ( the pursuit of joy is the high goodness ) ? Absolutely not .
" Nietzsche consider that God is dead , therefore we have to challenge ourselves to become ' imposing ' and it ’s up to each of us to figure out how to do that , " articulate Wilkerson . " We do n’t do that by purely seeking pleasure , though . "
Bonus quote:“After issue forth into tangency with a spiritual man I always sense I must wash my hands . "
2. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
You might be surprised to watch that Nietzsche came up with that line , too , sometimes written as " What does n’t kill you makes you stronger . " But what exactly did Nietzsche mean by this statement , which sound like a coffee patsy cliche about resilience or puts you in mind of acertain Kelly Clarkson song ?
First of all , it ’s " objectively not true , " suppose Wilkerson . There are plenty of thing that might not wipe out you , but can leave you weaker ( physically , mentally or emotionally ) than before they came around . Nietzsche himself was bring down to a " genial veg " for the last 11 years of his living , says Wilkerson , after suffering a partitioning and two separatrix in all probability because of syphilis . The disease did n’t stamp out him directly , but it did n’t make him potent , either .
Instead , Wilkerson sees Nietzsche ’s argument as a protraction of the root introduced with the " dying of God . " Nietzsche is often accused of being a nihilist , which is someone who rejects conventional ethical motive and religionism under the opinion that life , at its marrow , is nonmeaningful .
" Nietzsche admit that his oeuvre raises some hard issuing , " says Wilkerson . " His work could be consider nihilistic , but Nietzsche says that he ’s confront nihilism head on . Losing the idea of God could be depressing and some would consider that to be nihilistic , but Nietzsche insists that it ’s not . "
To Nietzsche , the death of God and other " absolute " does n’t make aliveness nonmeaningful . It frees us to create new value and paradigm for finding meaning . Out of the ash tree of faith and conventional ethical motive , Nietzsche announce the upgrade of theÜbermenschor " overman " ( sometimes translated as " superman " ) who will be " strong " psychologically and physically than what get along before .
Bonus quote:“He who can not obey himself will be commanded . That is the nature of life creatures . "
3. “It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified.”
If God is " drained , " then what do we raise up in place of his absolute authority ? As a late-19th hundred philosopher , you might have a bun in the oven Nietzsche to bring on the side of cause and logical system . But cold reason and pure logical system were just as empty and nonmeaningful for Nietzsche as religion . Explaining why something is logically " true " does n’t of necessity riddle it with meaning .
For Nietzsche , the highest face of the human spirit was art . Nietzsche was a musician and poet and was once very close friends with the German composer Richard Wagner . Before they had a falling out over Wagner ’s patriotism and anti - Semitism , Nietzsche was enrapture by the composer ’s sweeping artistic imaginativeness . The above quote comes from a Scripture call " The Birth of Tragedy " ( 1872 ) , which Nietzsche wrote when he was still very much under Wagner ’s charm .
So , what does Nietzsche mean when he says that world is only " justified " as an " aesthetic " phenomenon " ?
" Human beings are unequaled in that we create a human beings for ourselves , " says Wilkerson . " We make whole system of beliefs . We create gods , we create ritual , we create social / moral norm . All of that is an aesthetic phenomenon , but that ’s everything for Nietzsche . We would n’t be who we are without that form of creativity . "
Art , for Nietzsche , is n’t just a originative drill or outlet , but a direction of accessing a deeper sense of discernment beyond bare system of logic and grounds . He was a huge devotee of Greek calamity and identified with the " Dionysian " heart of uncurbed cacoethes and a gumption of wonder rather than the cool rationality of Western philosophy .
Bonus quote:“Without music , living would be a misapprehension . "
4. “The world is the will to power and nothing more, and you yourself are also this will to power and nothing more.”
Now we ’re get into the really abstruse ( and perplexing ) material . student concur that one of Nietzsche’skey doctrinesis something called " will to power , " but that ’s about all they agree upon . Nietzsche does n’t lay out his line of reasoning in the traditional philosophical fashion , and often prefers question over result , so it ’s rare that he says something is unambiguously " honorable " or " defective . " But in a late book call " The Anti - Christ " ( write in 1888 , release in 1895 ) , he writes :
As a philosophy , that sounds kind of barbarous — big businessman is proficient and weakness is unfit . It ’s no curiosity thatAdolph Hitlerlatched onto ( and misinterpreted ) Nietzsche as his favorite German philosopher . But Wilkerson sees " will to power " in a different light , as Nietzsche ’s style of trying to explain how value change over time . Since nothing is rank , let in values or morals , then what is underlie the military force that causes them to tilt ?
In his notebook computer , Nietzsche explains " will to power " as a primordial force that governs all interactions , on both a cosmic and human level :
Wilkerson translate this to mean that human beings have a treble drive : the first is to preserve themselves , but the 2nd ( and perhaps more important ) is to enhance themselves . That ’s what Nietzsche means by " extending " the will to power . And there ’s a unceasing biz of towboat - of - war between those two drives . Sometimes sweetening comes at the danger of preservation and sometimes saving hinders enhancement .
How does this connect back to values ?
" note value change over the course of study of time , and if you investigate the nature of any specific value , they uncover an ancient will to power , " says Wilkerson . " They reveal how people render to enhance themselves and preserve themselves at the same fourth dimension . "
Bonus quote:“Your will and your time value you set upon the river of becoming . What the people believe to be good and evil reveals to me an ancient will to ability . "
5. “And this secret life itself spoke to me: ‘Behold,’ it said, ‘I am that which must always overcome itself.'”
That quote is from " Thus Spoke Zarathustra " ( 1883 ) , a philosophic novel in which Nietzsche uses the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra as a mouthpiece for his philosophies . One of the melodic theme of the novel hearken back to the " death of God " riddle . humanity has arrived at aphilosophical crisisthat involve a thorough inquiring not only of religious ethical motive , but of the entire westerly philosophic tradition .
Nietzsche took up this topic again in " Beyond Good and Evil " ( 1886 ) andconcludedthat the growing dissatisfaction with religion has create a " splendid tension of the liveliness … the likes of which the earthly concern has never known : with such a tensity in our bow we can now shoot at the furthest goal . "
That " furthest end " is theÜbermensch(“overman " ) , the next evolution of man that " overcomes " our current selves . Hitler equalize theÜbermenschwith the Aryan physical nonsuch of magniloquent , light-haired and blue - eyed . But Nietzsche’sÜbermenschis a psychological hero who is brave enough to forge his own moral prototype through rigorous ego - examination and honesty for ( in mod lingo ) " live his best life . "
The enigma reveal to Zarathustra ( by aliveness itself ) is that life is all about " surmount " oneself to become something with child . The problem , sound out Nietzsche , is that our psychological intensity level is always being sapped by the polar opposite of theÜbermensch , the foe of ego - actualization that Nietzsche call " the last man . " The last piece only seek pleasure and comforter , not the heavy work that it takes to get the best ourselves .
" We have to plumb the depths of our head and ask ourselves tough questions and be prepared to deal with whatever dependable answers that we can formulate , " says Wilkerson . " In ' Beyond Good and Evil , ' Nietzsche extols the virtuousness of honesty . It ’s one of the most late virtues and perhaps the most important . "
Bonus quote:“Have I made myself understood? … ‘Absolutely not , sir ! ' So let ’s protrude at the beginning . "
HowStuffWorks realise a small affiliate commission when you buy through links on our site .
