Critique of Western Culture: The Decline of Greek Values
N’s Critique of Western Culture: A review of Greek culture questions and criticizes the traditional valuation of the Greek world that stood in ancient Greece against the splendor of contemporary Greek culture. N gives more importance to archaic Greece. According to N, Apollo is the god of light, clarity, and harmony, representing equilibrium, measurement, and consideration. This interpretation is correct regarding the Greek world from Socrates. According to N, Dionysus was the god of confusion, deformity, and chaos. The Greeks represented Dionysus in a dimension of tragedy. What was expressed in the Dionysian was truth. The authentic Greeks invented a world of rationality. N discusses legality and starts developing the idea of the decadent West in classical Greece. Dogmatism is opposed to the values of being instinctive and biological in man. There was a promotion of Judaeo-Christian morality. The decline of the ancient Greek spirit marked the victory of the Apollonian over the only thing real, the story of the Dionysian. The decadence of the West can be summarized as follows:
- The ancient Greek golden age is the Greek world of hidden dimensions of fundamental and tragic life. Tragic art and polytheistic religion, with the heroic moral excellence, claimed the value of life.
- The beginning of decadence is marked by Plato. Culture starts with Socrates and the West, leading to a decline relative to previous vitality. This gives way to Platonism, which results in science and metaphysical Christianity.
- The presence of anthropological dualism is in the public domain. The intelligible world of Plato becomes infinite or divine, with the soul opposed to the body, influencing the sharp division that begins slavery.
- The morality of modern Platonism.
- The crisis begins. The contemporary age is a time of crisis, and N is the god of death in the basic foundation of this crisis. This crisis is necessary for the appearance of a new form of being in the world, for the arrival of a new man.
Criticism of the Idea of N on Knowledge: The validity of concepts generally understands reality as a concept. It summarizes a philosophical tradition affirming the existence of two ways: essence or basic properties and accidental features that place individuals. They affirmed the difference between conceptual thinking and the metaphor of reality. The best way to grasp reality involves objects of inequality, allowing us the opportunity to complete the meaning from our own experience of the world.
On the Objectivity of Logic: According to traditional philosophy, the laws of reason are also the laws of the world. N states the irrational character of the world: logic and reason are human inventions; the world is changing realities, and traditional metaphysics contradicts the belief in the existence of a true world. The objectivity of knowledge: philosophy thought it possible to use traditional detached reason, where any subjective element might affect impartiality, believing in the objective knowledge of the world. If this is an absolute, it is a construction of human fantasy, lacking confidence in the sense of knowledge. We can speak of knowledge, accepting its relative and subjective nature. This idea stands radically opposed to objectivism and connects with relativism, skepticism, and defends subjectivism and perspectivism.
Critical of Science: N criticizes the following basic beliefs: The Existence of Natural Laws: The laws that scientific discoveries are believed to be human inventions deny the existence of nature. N states that behaviors are not regular and necessary; the relationships between things are not necessary. Things behave according to law only if there is a will to do so, but not by divine obligation.
The Validity of Reason: Reason cannot justify itself. Reason is one dimension of human life, and N states that the universe will disappear. It is a mistake to emphasize the importance of reason as an instrument for understanding reality.
Legitimacy of Mathematics: Mathematics can accurately express behavior towards things, but N argues that understanding the world through pure math is mistaken; they are human inventions. For N, the origin of science lies in its utility, allowing greater control and prediction of reality, which is a feeling of decadent consequences.