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A Critique Of The Moral And Religious Nihilism In The Philosophy Of Freidrich Nietzsche
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GENERAL NTRODUCTION
Down the stages of the history of philosophy, the modern philosophy of consciousness, attention has been directed to the mastery of the natural world. This is a period whose character of rational optimism was diametrically opposed to tradition and authority upon which stood the veracity and logic of primitive religion. It has been a period oriented to the practical. The possession of and ownership of the real. With Kant, the practical reason is already being understood as will. Schopenhauer took up this indication from Kant and conceived reality as will and idea. He opines that the world is a meaningless and purposeless existence or will to live. Nietzsche however, finally accepts the fundamental notion of Schopenhauer that the will is the principle of existence, but he conceives this will not merely as the will to live, but as the will for power.
Along the way to the will to power, the anthropological subject has become central. This turn towards the subject excludes any supreme value in man. Thus, when Nietzsche proclaimed and declared the death of God, he believed that he was accomplishing the work, which other existentialist philosophers started but were unable to complete. Little did he realize the havoc he had caused to the contemporary man. Consequently he joined other thinkers of his time to sweep off the hold of God on the modern man.
With “the death of God†man could surpass himself and attain his greatness.
Now it is up to man to give his life meaning by raising himself above the animals. Our so-called human nature is precisely what we should do well to overcome…[1]
It becomes succinctly comprehensible that God, the supreme value was a barrier to man’s attainment of self-fulfillment. However, with the elimination of the idea of God, supposedly a vacuum will be created and thus nothingness could break out in all directions. This at least goes to show the nothingness of religion, which it’s values and morality, find their meaning in God. This is thus the focus of nihilism, which also involves the revaluation of these values. Through nihilism, Nietzsche was able to posit a new value that would replace the old and eliminated` supreme value.
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