Nietzsche’s Critique of Reason and Dualism in Philosophy
Nietzsche’s Critique of Reason in Traditional Philosophy
Nietzsche’s critique of reason in philosophy encompasses a criticism of the onto-epistemology found in traditional philosophy, particularly Platonism. Nietzsche’s primary interlocutor is Platonism, understood broadly as a systematic-dogmatic philosophy originating with the Eleatic school, especially Parmenides. Parmenides was the first to logically deduce the characteristics of true reality, positing that Being is sole, eternal, and immutable. This philosophical tradition extends to Nietzsche’s contemporary Positivism.
The text references numerous authors and philosophical streams that are part of this broader understanding of Platonism, including the Eleatics, Heraclitus, Kant, Democritus, Plato, and Descartes. These thinkers, with varying nuances, defend a dualistic worldview, distinguishing between a real world accessible through reason, characterized by objectivity and immutability, and an apparent world perceived through the senses, characterized by subjectivity and change. The latter is often associated with evil and the body, encompassing birth, duration, and death.
However, Nietzsche argues that the only reality is *becoming*. He views Plato’s “apparent world” as the real world, and considers the invention of a separate, “real” world to be a product of reason and a symptom of human decline. He believes that this contrast is an erroneous duplication of what exists. For Nietzsche, metaphysics inverts reality by prioritizing supreme and empty concepts, “the last smoke of evaporating reality,” over sensible, real, and changing intuitions. His criticism of Plato, as the initiator of a moral interpretation of being (Good = Being), is ultimately a critique of a mode of thought that supplants the Presocratics’ interpretation of the world, which he believes was closer to the truth.
Epistemological Dualism and the Value of Sensory Knowledge
In line with this ontological dualism, traditional philosophy also posits two distinct ways of knowing: epistemological dualism. The opposition between senses and reason has been a recurring theme throughout the history of philosophy, with reason often considered superior to the senses. However, Nietzsche argues that sensitive knowledge is the only valid form of knowledge, and therefore it is multiple, changing, and subjective. This plurality and subjectivity of meaning necessitate the use of metaphor over concept, and thus, artistic expression over explicit philosophical reference.
Nietzsche’s Critique of Christian Morality
Nietzsche sees Christianity as fundamentally hostile to life. While he explicitly references Christianity, he also implicitly critiques the foundations of Christian morality, particularly Socrates and Plato. He views them as symptoms of decay for establishing the equation of reason, virtue, and happiness, and for imposing the “morality of slaves” over the “master morality” championed by the true Greek spirit, as expressed in the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles. Socrates and Plato, in Nietzsche’s view, represent the unnatural morality that he criticizes.
Nietzsche characterizes Christianity as “Platonism for the people,” especially in its negative assessment of the body, the senses, and instinctual or sexual desires. He sees it as an unnatural morality that opposes the vital values that enable humans to develop their full potential. Consequently, he views Christian morality as a pathology or mental illness, describing it as “brain ailments of cobweb weavers.”
For Nietzsche, the inherent values of life, the biological, become supreme. Instinct, which promotes the satisfaction of the body and the flourishing of life, is the only valid moral criterion.