Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Nihilism and Value Transmutation
Nihilism in Nietzsche’s Philosophy
Nihilism, as conceived by Nietzsche, is a multifaceted concept:
Nihilism as a Sign of Vital Decline
Nietzsche posits that any culture believing in an absolute reality is inherently nihilistic. Christianity, by focusing on God as the ultimate reality and negating the natural world, exemplifies this. Such a culture, fixated on a non-existent “higher” realm, neglects the tangible reality of life and the senses. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche uses the metaphor of the camel to represent this resigned acceptance of burdens.
Passive Nihilism
This arises from the “death of God,” the realization that belief in the supernatural is unfounded. Our culture has long relied on transcendent values, finding meaning in something external. The death of God triggers a crisis of meaning, a belief that existence is meaningless. “Passive nihilism” rejects all values, believing they are only possible with God’s existence. It leads to despair and potentially suicide. This is the nihilism of those who believe that without God, everything is permitted.
Active Nihilism
This form of nihilism, exemplified by Nietzsche’s own philosophy, seeks to dismantle existing values and replace them with new ones. It’s a necessary step towards a new cultural era, a return to the “sense of the earth,” and the emergence of a new morality embodied by the Superman. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the lion symbolizes this spirit.
The Transmutation of Values
Nietzsche doesn’t advocate for a life without values but rather for inverting the existing value system. He aims to replace Western morality with one that affirms life.
Nietzsche, perhaps overly dramatically, labels the triumph of Christianity as a “slave revolt.” Judaism and Christianity, he argues, replaced aristocratic morality with that of the slaves. Christianity promotes the morality of the weak, those who seek to escape the world by inventing an afterlife. Nietzsche claims that the Jews inverted the aristocratic value system: “It was the Jews who dared to invert the aristocratic equation of values… clinging to that inversion with the teeth of the most abysmal hatred: namely, ‘the wretched alone are the good; the poor, impotent, lowly alone are the good; the suffering, deprived, sick, ugly alone are pious, alone are blessed by God…'”
The transmutation of values involves overcoming this slave morality to reclaim the aristocratic one, paving the way for the Superman’s moral code. This involves:
- Master Morality: Embraces hierarchy and excellence; desires difference; is the morality of the hero and warrior who doesn’t fear pain or suffering; creates values; and embraces the death of God.
- Slave Morality: Desires equality; harbors resentment towards life; censors the exceptional; glorifies the faint of heart; equates all individuals; relies on pre-existing values; and both loves and fears God.