Nietzsche’s Philosophy: A Critique of Western Tradition
Historical and Philosophical Context of Nietzsche
The life and thought of Nietzsche occupy a large part of the nineteenth century, during which all the changes and characteristics that define our present time were forged. This era saw the confrontation between the aristocratic values of the ancien régime, imbued with an air of decay and the melancholy of rational pessimism, and the rising democratic values, with a dose of egalitarianism and a social intellectual background. A good portion of Nietzsche’s direct influences can be found in the theoretical revolution produced in the eighteenth century as a result of the accumulation of anti-dogmatism, anti-clericalism, and rationalism. This revolution expressed itself morally and politically as the elimination of feudal tradition and the recovery of Reason as the basis of ethical, political, and religious principles. It also manifested as an attempt to end political theocratism and obscurantism.
It is true that from the beginning, Nietzsche took into account the notes that Kant considered characteristic of the spirit and attitude of the Enlightenment. The lack of enlightenment, according to Kant, is due to ignorance, lack of integrity, superstition, and the domination of the clergy. However, Nietzsche also found reasons to establish substantial differences regarding the faith in progress and systematically denounced what he understood under the general heading of “modern ideas.” Nietzsche distinguished himself from the naive optimism of the Enlightenment, believing in the inevitability of progress, but without falling into reactionary thought. Beyond the discredited words of optimism and pessimism, he posited the possibility of progress, set apart from all theological and providential instances.
If there is a sense in which we can call ourselves modern men, the result of progress, it is that we have become ripe for experience, for the experiment of plurality. We also no longer live with the constant fear of wild beasts, barbarians, gods, and our dreams. Science, technology, and social organization of labor have protected us from the most immediate threats to our survival. In this sense, we can consider Nietzsche an inheritor of the Enlightenment, yet his work represents the strongest attempt to overcome it. Therefore, the qualification of Nietzsche as an enlightened or positivist thinker, which is generally applied to his thought expressed in the interim period, should be conveniently nuanced.
Hegel attempted to resolve this contradiction by saying that reality is rational because the rational is real. Against this attempt to legitimize existing reality through reason, Nietzsche’s philosophy appears as an attempt to overcome the logical system of reality and, with it, all traditional Western metaphysics. If Hegel thought he could give a positive answer to history, Nietzsche represents the opposite: the ruthless negation of the past and the rejection of tradition.
Nietzsche made a constant effort to stay awake and aware of those events that shed light on the true meaning of his time. One of these events was the death of God. Along with his tracking of art, religion, and philosophy as exponents of culture, this allows us to fully understand Zarathustra. While announcing the Superman, Zarathustra knows he will not be understood until awareness of this development and the dangers it entails has been achieved. The passive denial of God fails to glimpse the depth and consequences of the discovery that precedes the great disappointment. This is why atheism has nothing to do with Nietzsche’s knowledge of European culture and its many wrong answers to the disturbing signs of the devaluation of life.
Nietzsche’s uniqueness is also shown in his unequivocal diagnosis of nihilism as the devaluation of the highest values. This nihilism lives at the root of Western history, from Socrates to Schopenhauer, when they teach us that life is worthless. Nietzsche uses nihilism as a thread to discuss the problems of our civilization, exposing the weaknesses of many justifications and ideological justifications that sift the established order. This same uniqueness shows Nietzsche unmasking the lies of hypocrisy and social or psychological constructs, the metaphysical, and the bourgeois-Christian moral.
The critique of the Western tradition begins with the elimination of all language ordained as the discourse of ideas of Western philosophy. This is why Nietzsche resorted to poetic language and aphorisms. Hence the influence of Goethe, whom he regarded as the authentic pagan of the Enlightenment, who understood the world in its artistic expression rather than in rational speculation.
There are two direct influences on Nietzsche: Arthur Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner. Nietzsche took from Schopenhauer the idea that the world is essentially our representation, and this representation we have of the world is essentially the will to exist, the will to persist blindly in being. The influence of Schopenhauer on Nietzsche’s thought can be summarized as follows:
- Intelligence is not only a tool driven by instinct.
- The predominant role given to art, especially music, as a momentary damper of the will.
For Nietzsche, Wagner meant the emergence of a free spirit whose weapons were music and poetry. Remember also that Nietzsche was unrelated to any known radical thinkers or Hegelians of the Left, such as Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner. The first was a brilliant critic of European culture, the author of a work of historical complaint against the transcendental claims of Christianity: Christianity Discovered. The second made an even more radical critique of philosophy, trying to eliminate all traces of idealism insofar as these supposed alienating abstraction. The result of this influence is Nietzsche’s belief that the spiritual history of the West, characterized by two thousand years of Christianity, has been a wrong path in which man has strayed. Nietzsche thus represents the most extreme criticism against religion, philosophy, morality, and science.