Nietzsche’s Rejection of Traditional Thought
Introduction
Most traditional philosophical schools of thought considered ‘being’ in its static dimension. In Hegelian idealism, movement and change were regarded as something added to the being of things, which were characterized by their permanence. Since Hegel’s philosophy, the process is raised to the basic and primary reality: to be is to be done. In the field of anthropology, freedom had gone from being a property of human nature to being a property right of man’s will. Nature and man are a radical principle of liberty. The reason of traditional philosophy – abstract and speculative reason – will have to merge with life and the history of man, becoming vital reason or historical reason.
Nietzsche’s Critique of the Socratic-Platonic Tradition and Dialectics
Western culture, in Nietzsche’s view, is corrupted at its source. Its main error is to introduce rationality at all costs. His criticism is directed at Platonism, blaming Plato for denying perspectivism as a symptom of decline. Everything that opposes the values of existence and the biological instinct of man is decadent. It is necessary to eliminate the base error. This is a total critique central to three aspects:
- Moral criticism
- Criticism of metaphysics (in its ontological and epistemological aspects)
- Critique of the positive sciences
Critique of Morality
Traditional morality is characterized by being anti-natural, by going against nature, against the primary instincts of life. The basis of this unnatural morality is in Platonism. Christianity adopted the existence of two worlds, the sensible, which is based on the intelligible. This conception of morality is a symptom of decadence, of nihilism. It is a symptom of resentment toward life, which manifests itself in the search for values outside of one’s own life. Christianity only promotes narrow values: obedience, sacrifice, humility – feelings of the herd.
Criticism of Traditional Metaphysics
It is based on a serious error: the belief that supreme values do not originate in this world but are derived from another world of a divine nature. Philosophers invent another world.
The Criticism in its Ontological Aspect
Traditional ontology considers being as something static and immutable. Unless there is, in its own world, distinct from the sensible, reality is merely superficial and false. Man should seek the other world to get the truth. This division, the world of being and the world of becoming, is a negative view of life; it enhances the value of the world of ideas.
The Criticism in its Epistemological Aspect
In his critique, Nietzsche explains the origin and genesis of these categories that define the world of ideas. They arise from the human being’s need to survive in a world where everything is becoming. Man generalizes impressions; the concept becomes, and then refers to this, your reality and your life. Man goes from feeling to the image using intuitive metaphors, and the image, by setting the concept of a metaphor or set of metaphors. Truth is emerging as a set of generalizations that have been imposed through use and custom.