Nietzsche: Key Concepts, Themes, and Critique
Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx exemplify what has been called the crisis of modern consciousness. They are especially critical of the values of modernity, that is, reason, science, and progress.
Vocabulary of Nietzsche
- Apollonian: Symbolically expresses the more orderly and rational aspects of people’s lives.
- Body: Has primacy over thought; it is what gives us the reference points for understanding reality.
- Dionysian: Symbolically expresses the irrational, impulsive, instinctive aspect of people.
- Moral:
- A set of values that have governed the Western tradition (Platonic or Christian).
- The new rating from the will to power/super-man.
- Nihilism: Depreciation of what were supposed to be points of reference values.
- Value: These are the views, perspectives on the world that are subject to time and do not have determined or immutable qualities.
Three Periods of His Work
- 1 (1869-1875): Focuses on The Birth of Tragedy and presents the opposition between the Apollonian aspects.
- 2 (1875-1881): Critical, negative, and skeptical stage regarding culture, society, and religion. Uses the aphorism as a literary resource. The main work is The Gay Science. Raises the issue of the death of God.
- 3 (1881-1889): Last and most creative stage, showing a more positive, though critical, view of culture and values. Includes the work Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Key Themes
- Death of God: Disappearance of the sense of life, society, and culture.
- Nihilism: Awareness that God is dead, and this change of values has changed the whole culture and society.
- Last Man: The man does not believe in anything but current thinking is to be happy. The man of the future must create new values.
- Currency Values: The disappearance of traditional values, change for new ones.
- Will to Power: Force that moves all, pushing to be creative, novel, and original.
- Eternal Return: Every moment of life should be lived as if it would repeat forever.
Waiting and Free Criticism of Culture, Religion, Death
- Nietzsche’s suspicion of three major values of Western culture: science, progress, and reason, but uses them to question moral and philosophical beliefs.
- The Gay Science symbolizes an ideal of science away from celebration.
- Waiting free represents the birth of freedom, and when the man becomes aware of the force that transforms all values to new ones.
The Critical Language
Manifests the utilization of aphorisms (short texts, allegorical). The work is a metaphorical character of Nietzsche, against the usually systematic philosophy. He wanted to eliminate the metaphysical/scientific sense of the word to go on to become a symbolic element, closer to poetry. Through this critical history of the occident, Nietzsche attacks their children’s values and morals, religion, science, philosophy… The idea of God’s own death in this movement not only refers to the Christian God but anyone who used to give meaning to life by subjecting people. Nietzsche only makes sense for nature, the Earth.