Nietzsche’s Critique: Values, Sexuality, and the Death of God
Nietzsche’s Critique of Modern Values
1. The Defense of Earthly Values
The era when sexual liberation was seen as an offense against God and religious precepts is long past. While many still view sex negatively when divorced from affection, love, or commitment, its demonization and taboo are relics of the past. In our culture, its normalization contrasts sharply with Nietzschean ideals. Consider the extreme rigor and Puritanism of Victorian times. Today, sexuality is not only no longer taboo but is commonplace, with pansexualism evident in advertising, consumerism, and artistic expression. This trivialization of sexuality is the antithesis of Nietzsche’s view, which sees sex as a powerful and noble premise of life, not a commercial tool.
2. The Creation of Individual Securities
We live in a time and context (Western Europe, Spain) where religious freedom manifests differently. With the proliferation of permissive laws and guarantees in democratic states, diverse values coexist, sometimes in competition. These laws result from ‘positive’ moral laws. Diversity is not synonymous with individuality but is as close to universal legislation as Nietzsche’s moral level. Peaceful coexistence of contemporary Western societies’ values would have been hard to imagine in the late nineteenth century. Nietzsche would likely align with the ‘political morality’ of our day.
3. The ‘Death of God,’ the Crisis of Values
The gradual secularization of recent decades, particularly in Christian Europe, is undeniable. It would be a distortion to take Nietzsche’s phrase ‘death of God’ literally. He meant not only freeing ourselves from belief in absolute entities but also abandoning exhausted and decaying values. This Nietzschean proposal is evident in polls. Nietzsche prophetically anticipates the nihilistic diagnosis of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, there are no obvious signs of a post-nihilistic period.
The idea of a crisis of values persists, especially among young people. Are we experiencing unease due to ‘regulatory neglect’ by parents? Has the regulatory role of the Church and State been replaced? Have we delegated it solely to social agents like schools or the media? The ‘death of God’ has produced a complex situation. While monotheistic religions survive, we have replaced the Christian God with other ‘gods’ offering earthly paradises: refuge in work or money, addiction to consumerism, and the pursuit of fame and glory. These are idols with feet of clay, betraying the sense of land and fatal love. Nietzsche’s crusade would likely be against these new ‘gods’.
4. Nietzsche’s Acuity and Courage Against Illusions and Lies
Suspicion is even more necessary today than in Nietzsche’s time. Are all advertisements credible? Should we not question scientific claims? Perhaps today, a new rebel Zarathustra is needed to help us critically evaluate a way of life that does not exalt empowering values. The rise in psychiatric disorders and global uncertainties like ecological issues and terrorism can be symptoms of a crisis of values and nihilism.