Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Truth, Morality, and the Superman
Nietzsche’s Critique of Truth and Morality
Nietzsche proposes a critical history, condemning elements that hinder our performance. He argues that truth is a lie originating in language, which, as a social construct, defines what is considered true and false.
The origin of language and knowledge lies in the imagination. The mind creates metaphors, analogies, and models that are then taken as truth. This truth becomes a comfortable lie, accepted by all.
Nietzsche views the human being as precarious, and the philosopher as the most arrogant of all. He believes that knowledge about human existence is deceiving because it compels the intellect to seek its preservation through weakness to survive. Language establishes the laws of truth, making truth a social commitment, and the real world a regulatory and mandatory construct.
Two Types of Individuals
Nietzsche identifies two types of individuals:
- The Rational Man: Distressed by intuition, seeks to dominate life by addressing needs through forecasting.
- The Instinctive Man: Embraces abstraction and dominates without seeing the needs. Nietzsche sees this man as the solution to the contemporary subject’s crisis.
The Announcement of the Death of God
The death of God is a pivotal event in human history. Zarathustra announces this death and introduces the concept of the Superman, dominated by the Dionysian ideal, who loves life and rejects the promises of heaven. These supernatural worlds are deemed “preachers of death.” The death of God liberates humanity from the supernatural. Nietzsche critiques Christianity for considering the values and pleasures of nature as sins, viewing God as degenerated. He distinguishes between Christ, a free spirit, and Christianity, arguing that with Christ’s death, the Gospel also died, giving rise to Christianity.
Critique of Morality: The Genealogy of Morals
Nietzsche’s condemnation of Christianity leads to a profound moral critique. Using the genealogical method, he explains the origin of values. Morality is a tool used to dominate others, and we must distinguish between aristocratic morality (of strong spirits) and slave morality (of the weak). Aristocratic morality is the morality of pride, where good is seen as good and bad as negligible. This morality creates its own life-affirming values. Slave morality, on the other hand, is the morality of resentment, where good and evil are defined by the mighty and the weak. This moral is resentful of preachers, democracy, and socialism.
The concepts of morality and metaphysics arise from a weak spirit that has been imposed on free and creative spirits.
The Values of the New Civilization
- The Transmutation of All Values: Having denied the supernatural, Nietzsche exalts all things earthly. Human existence is earthly; the soul does not exist. Man is one body, which Nietzsche calls “great reason.”
- The Will to Power: This is the rebellion of the instinct of life against the rule of reason. The will to power is the will to create.
- The Eternal Return and Amor Fati: Nietzsche’s post-metaphysical nihilism arises from the values that undermine life. Life is something that is always the same. The doctrine of eternal recurrence sums up Nietzsche’s entire doctrine and expresses the destiny of human beings and the world. The eternal return is a terrible truth that requires a strong individual to endure. The eternal return includes the concept of amor fati, the acceptance of destiny. This love frees human beings from the past.