Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Deconstructing Nihilism and Morality
Nihilism: A Philosophical Deconstruction
Nihilism is the denial of all belief. It surged in the nineteenth century, and is, in principle, a state of despair for those who do not know what to do with their lives. Later, it became a doctrine whose immediate objective was to destroy all acquired ideas and social prejudices, approaching anarchist approaches. Nietzschean nihilism is complex. It is not a philosophical theory or a theoretical proposition, but a proper motion of the history of our culture. The Western spirit experiences radical and absolute nihilism because it proposes the complete destruction of all existing values and their replacement by radically new ones. This nihilism is a necessary stage for the emergence of a new moment in the history of culture, leading to the emergence of a new morality and a new human, the Übermensch (used by German fascism). Nietzsche represents this figure with the metaphor of the lion (due to its aggressive and destructive nature). Nihilism is also a destructive force, a shredder of God. The “death of God” appears in the consciousness of the radical nature of the unfounded belief in the supernatural. Nihilism is an ambivalent and dialectical process. It is ambivalent because it has two faces: a negative symbol of the decadence and disintegration of values, and a positive sign of the will to power as a peculiar feature of life. It is dialectical because it is a movement from negative to positive: to deny is to say, to destroy is to create, to annihilate is to produce.
Dionysian vs. Apollonian: Two Sides of the Human Spirit
These concepts derive from the Greek gods Apollo (god of the sun, a symbol of moderation, harmony, and serenity) and Dionysus (god of wine, a symbol of love, sensuality, the lust for life, and artistic creation), whom Nietzsche contrasts as opposite facets of the human spirit. With the concept of “Apollo,” Nietzsche refers to the harmonic, bright, and calm component of the Greek spirit, in opposition to the passionate, enthusiastic, painful, and dark component that Dionysus represents, shown through drunkenness, enthusiasm, and unbridled passion. Apollo represents order; Dionysus goes beyond what is ordered. With the concepts of Apollonian and Dionysian, Nietzsche is identifying two contradictory aspects of the human soul. The Dionysian spirit passionately gives in to its outbursts and impulses, while the Apollonian spirit channels them into ordered, balanced, and harmonious thought. The Dionysian spirit drives one to enjoy life and sensual, carnal pleasure. Those who live dionysian live life passionately. The Apollonian spirit, however, leads to a rational, orderly, harmonious, and balanced life.
Unnatural Morality: The Morality of the Weak
Unnatural morality is characteristic of the weak and those resentful of life, those who reject the body and its passions, and those who affirm the reality of a higher world towards which we must sacrifice in this life. Unnatural morality arises in opposition to natural morality, which is that of the strong, based on the will to power and the value of this life as the most important thing. Unnatural morality is born of the resentment that the weak have towards the strong, and intends to make virtues out of its flaws. All morality that requires sacrifice and mortification in this life to earn a living in the afterlife is unnatural; it is a proper morality of “slaves,” contrary to the morality of “gentlemen.”
The World of Forms: A Critique of Metaphysical Dualism
With these concepts, Nietzsche refers to the division of reality into two worlds established by metaphysics and religion: a true upper world (the world of ideas) and a lower world with a lesser degree of reality (the world of sense). Nietzsche considers this division to be inverted and considers the real world to be what has hitherto been regarded as the apparent world, and the non-existent and false world to be what has hitherto been regarded as the upper and true world.
Transvaluation of Values: Overcoming Resentment
Nietzsche intends to invert the table of values that has sustained Western culture to overcome the morality of resignation and resentment toward life through a new table that shows the values that represent a radical affirmation of life. With the triumph of Christianity, aristocratic morality is replaced by the morality of the “slaves,” of the weak, those who want to escape the rigors of life by inventing a new world order to rest, for justice. To overcome this morality of “slaves” and build a new morality of the Übermensch, Nietzsche defends the affirmation of life, the will to power, pride, and the strength of passion as forming the new human.
The Innocence of Becoming: Embracing Change
According to Nietzsche, traditional philosophy has always felt a rejection of evolution, the changing nature of things, and the flow, pursuing the ideal of a higher reality that possessed characteristics contrary to this changing world in which we live. For these philosophers, the flowing nature of reality, the tides of all things, becoming, in short, has been somewhat annoying, as it did not match the features that they say should characterize true reality: immutability, eternity, universality, etc. Faced with this attitude of rejection of evolution and underestimation of the sensible world, Nietzsche asserts the mere existence of the world of becoming and appearances, considering that there is only this world, perpetually moving and changing, without any reality beyond this or any goal or final state that is the culmination of becoming.
Nietzsche found attempts to make sense of becoming, to impose a real, unique interpretation, a unique way of valuing a reality that is fluid and changing, multifaceted and immeasurable, to be wrong and fallacious, not at all like the alleged “real truth” of which metaphysicians and believers have always spoken. Accepting that the world is as it appears to us, not as reason would like it to be, involves understanding the innocence of becoming and the vanity of human pretensions to find truths and absolute values.