Nietzsche’s Critique of Ascetic Ideal and Western Metaphysics
Moral of the Ascetic Ideal
Born of opposition to this sensible life. According to Nietzsche’s philosophy, value is being, not appearance, and being is supersensible.
A. Why Reject This Life?
For the pain and suffering out there. The ascetic ideal intends to give a sense of pain, stating that we suffer to overcome suffering in the afterlife. But Nietzsche says that the afterlife does not exist, which gives a false sense of pain; there is only this life. The other life is nothing. The strong human (SH) longs for nothing or is nihilistic.
B. Who Denies This Life?
The slaves, the weak unable to cope, to live life with pleasure and pain. They hate the gentlemen who bear strong life with joy, who accept both pain and joy. This results in weak resentment, leading the weak to invest in securities (1st revaluation).
Criticism of the Moral of the Ascetic Ideal
The meaning of this life, according to the ascetic ideal, is in the afterlife and is based on belief in God as a supersensible being, the leading cause of all that exists.
According to Nietzsche, to overcome the moral of the ascetic ideal, it is necessary to declare the death of God. This will involve:
- It does not mean that everything is allowed or that there is no moral social order of norms and values.
- There are life-affirming attitudes, behaviors, norms, and values (new dawn) (2nd revaluation).
Conclusion
The epistemology of the concept requires a dualist ontology, which makes the moral of the ascetic ideal. All this is reflected in Western culture, which rejects:
- Religion: How valuable is the afterlife (life beyond the sensible)?
- Philosophy: How valuable is the philosophical concept and practice that rejects the world of sense?
- Science: How valuable is objectivity and scientific praxis that puts life at the service of science?
In all of Western culture, the truly valuable is supersensible, a supposed reality beyond the true, particular, multiple, and changing reality.
This implies a devaluation of the sensitive and thus of life. Nietzsche says that the essence of Western culture is nihilism.
New Aurora
Nietzsche’s proposal to end the crisis of Western culture is based on three principles:
- Epistemological Order: Becoming known through metaphors.
- Ontological: Being is becoming.
- Ethical: The purpose of life is its affirmation.
It is based on three ideas:
- The will to power and eternal recurrence.
- Nihilism: the distinction between passive-reactive and active nihilism.
- The revaluation of morality and the ideal of the Superman.
Epistemology of the Concept and Truth as Correspondence
The history of Western philosophy consists of two stages:
- 1st Stage: From Parmenides to scholasticism.
- 2nd Stage: From Descartes to Hegel.
In these two stages, knowledge is given as a possession of the concept, and truth as correspondence, which in turn is divided into concept-reality and concept-rules of reason.
In Stage 1, the universal concept, essence, or idea is common to all individuals of a type. It organizes what is real (reality is ordered). Individuals are grouped into types with a single idea or essence. The real is represented in thought (knowing one thing is to say what it is, that is the concept). The truth of the concept is its correspondence with reality (Aristotle’s epistemology).
In the 2nd stage, thought is analyzed. The content of thought (rightly or understanding) is seen as a concept or idea. When analyzing thought, one realizes that inside there are concepts and ideas. For Descartes, thought is right when it applies its internal rules, which are universal, the product of reason and the faculty of knowledge of all people.
To order the whole philosophy, the order of reality corresponds to the order of thought. Hegel says that “everything real is rational, and what is rational is real.” The knowledge process is understood as a relationship between subject and object through the concept. The features are:
- Universality: The concept is true for all who think.
- Immutability: The true concept does not change; it is immutable.
- Theoretical Man: Man is an animal that cares about true knowledge.
Criticism of the Concept Epistemology
Knowledge is based on the experience that the subject has of an object; these are unique and are in constant evolution. Knowledge is not an exact copy of reality but an imaginative reconstruction of reality. It is expressed in metaphors (expression of knowledge in the service of life and the will to power). For Nietzsche, the SH is not a rational animal but a living thing that wants to remain in life. Human knowledge is at the service of life and the will to power. It is not expressed in science and philosophy that seek to reach true knowledge (this leads to error). Nietzsche expresses it through art, in metaphors to enlarge and express the changing experience of reality. Knowledge in art is truer than that of science and philosophy.
Ontology of Being and Becoming: The Contraposition
Based on the concept of epistemology (knowing a thing is to express its being by concepts), Western philosophy opposes thought to feeling.
Through thought, we capture the immutable essence of things, but thought is supersensible (beyond the senses), ideas (for Plato, ideas are beyond the senses), and God (in Christian thought).
Through the senses, we grasp that things change, but feeling is mere appearance, and the senses deceive us with what is worthless. Thus, Western philosophy rejects the future because what is important is not appearance but being.
Criticism of the Ontology of Being
Nietzsche criticizes Western rejection of this life based on the differentiation between being and becoming. The affirmation of this life implies that being is like becoming. Being is only in its becoming. Reality is change, transformation, or movement.