Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Beyond Good and Evil
Nietzsche’s Philosophy
The Revaluation of All Values
Nietzsche’s philosophy centers on the revaluation of all values. This involves two key aspects. First is regaining the morality of lords, necessary for the emergence of the Übermensch (Superman), who creates new values after the decline of Judeo-Christian morality, forming a new civilization. Second is the will to power, equivalent to the affirmation of life, symbolizing the eternal return. Life and death are cyclical. With the death of God, time becomes linear.
The Death of God and Nihilism
The death of God is critical, causing the collapse of Western values. Previously, man had to obey and submit to God for eternal life; disobedience meant sin and guilt. God, an obstacle to human freedom, is thus “dead, and we have killed him.”
With the death of the monotheistic God, the distinction between good and evil, true and false, real and apparent, collapses. Nihilism arises—the negation of life’s values. We realize the meaninglessness of reality. Without God, we are directionless. Two types of nihilism emerge: passive and active.
Passive nihilism involves pessimistic acceptance of the absence of values. This corresponds to the first metamorphosis: the camel (obedience, humility), symbolizing blind obedience. Active nihilism is optimistic, seeking to overcome God’s death with a new appreciation for life, a step towards the Superman. This involves the second metamorphosis: the camel becomes a lion, unable to create values but striving towards the Superman. Finally, the lion becomes a child (third metamorphosis), the creator of its own values, symbolizing innocence, forgetfulness, and a new beginning—the path to the Superman.
The Superman and the Last Man
The Superman embraces life, health, and pleasure. Beyond good and evil, he believes equality leads to slave morality. He breaks with traditional values, focusing on the “here and now.” He embodies the will to power and the eternal return, desiring to relive the past.
Nietzsche was often misrepresented as a nihilist, a destructor. However, he aimed to destroy old sanctuaries for reconstruction—a “philosopher with a hammer.”
The “Last Man” is the heir to God’s murderer. Recognizing the world’s meaninglessness and the absence of supreme values, he concludes life is not worth living.
Influences on Nietzsche
Nietzsche was influenced by Wagner’s music, with its epic German myths, representing the hope of the free spirit. Schopenhauer’s view of life as an irrational, cosmic force dominating man resonated with him. Artistic creation offered a path to freedom from this pessimism.
He was also influenced by Goethe, Heine, Voltaire, and Stendhal. Unamuno’s doctrine of “man of flesh and blood” and Ortega y Gasset’s ratiovitalism, emphasizing life’s unique experience, also impacted him. He was admired by existentialists for his defense of the individual and by anarchists for his critique of authority.
Comparison with Plato
Plato believed in a world of independent Ideas (e.g., Beauty, Justice, the Good). He distinguished between the sensible world (changing things) and the intelligible world (eternal Ideas). Things in the sensible world are imitations of Ideas.
In his simile of the line, Plato described four stages of knowledge: imagination, belief, thinking, and intelligence. He advocated dialectic as a method of understanding.
Nietzsche’s Legacy
Nietzsche’s influence can be seen in postmodern philosophy, from figures like Pio Baroja and Blasco Ibáñez to Ortega y Gasset and Fernando Savater.