Nietzsche and the Western Philosophy - Essay Example

Nietzsche and the Western ‘Self’ Nietzsche’s relevance as a profound philosopher lies in his originality and firm belief in the immense potentiality of human self. His uniqueness also stems from his staunch expression of sadness at the human self which, he claims, is constrained at the hands of western traditional morality and Christianity. Therefore, he thinks that the self should break free of the shackles and go beyond the western concepts of good and evil, and lift itself to the horizons of free will and liberation. “To be alone, to experience things by oneself, neither to obey nor to rule, to be an individual,” (Hollingdale, 1987. section 107) were the primary concerns of Nietzsche’s philosophical thoughts on self. Instead of a single fixed perspective, he looks forward to the prospect of multiple perspectives where the individual is left free to choose what is good for him or her. Thus, through his essays, he ruthlessly criticizes the morality; social values and the very concept of western self which regarded the physical world as inherently inferior. Further, Nietzsche eschews the western philosophy, and created a mind set that is thoroughly human rather than being religious. During the 19th century, western civilization was very much dominated by Christian values but Nietzsche held that one needs to move beyond the underlying Christian concepts of good and evil. In The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche makes it clear how Christianity resents the noble superior individuals as portrayed in the Greek texts and how their heroic deeds are considered as evil by Christianity. According to him, Christianity never allowed one to have an ideal of one’s own; instead it imposed its own moral codes on individuals and forced their life to be focused on the other world rather than the real one. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche criticizes that Christianity was “life’s nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed behind, masked by, dressed up as, faith in another or better life.” (Bill Curry). He resents the Christian concept of monotheism and regards it as the greatest threat to humanity. On the other hand he believes that polytheism provides individuals with better freedom, and opportunity to choose from various forms. He further promulgates the idea that polytheism enables man’s free spirit to attain “its first preliminary form – the strength to create for ourselves our own new eyes – and ever again new eyes that are even more our own.” (Kaufman, 1974. section 133). Thus, Nietzsche’s atheism was a violent outburst against the then prevalent system of single authoritative agency that redirected individuals’ right to inherent freedom to live in his present existing world rather than to a life of an ideal heavenly world. Nietzsche considers the other world as a vanity: he is sure that there is no escape for man from the present world as it is the only reality. It is because of this fear that people take refuge in an ideal and imaginary world where they seem to find everlasting peace and relief from all ailments that besiege them on earth. In whatever way they try to escape from the physical world, their retreat is a manifestation of their weakness and an inability to face the reality. From his aversion towards traditional morality and atheism, Nietzsche leaps forward to nihilism by claiming that ‘God is dead’ and, therefore, a cultural change is imminent. Human, All too human is yet another example of his outburst whereby he discounts Christian religion as “an antiquity projected into our times from remote prehistory.” (Bill Curry). Through this work, he challenges the basic dogmas of Christian religion. Similarly, he scorns the idea of the western man still carrying the shadows of a dead Christ and Buddha. His mockery of this concept becomes most pronounced in The Gay Science (1882) where he endorses: “After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave – a tremendous, gruesome shadow. God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. And we – we still have to vanquish his shadow, too.” (Section 108). Nietzsche argues that the death of god shattered the foundation on which the morality, values and the very existence of man was built for years. This also brings about new horizons of freedom where the individuals can establish their own gods and dictate their priorities. This, in turn, would lead to the liberation of the self, where the individual is free to create his own new values as the fear of gods or of the morality they imposed wouldn’t deter them anymore. Thus the self would become a free entity, liberated to choose its own course. Nietzsche further feels that the Western philosophy is based on a destructive psychology of a ‘will to truth’ which controls and fetters the self and works really against a life advancing view of freedom. In Beyond Good and Evil (1987), he denounces Western philosophers’ prejudice and preoccupation with the ‘will to truth’ and exhorts people to think and learn differently. For him untruth, uncertainties and ignorance are all part of one’s self and one needs to resist his traditional concept of the will to truth to exercise them spontaneously. Therefore, he urges people “to recognize untruth as a condition of life” and “to resist customary value-sentiments in a dangerous fashion.” He goes on to argue that “a philosophy which ventures to do so places itself, by that alone, beyond good and evil.” (Hollingdale, 1987. section 4). A life based on customary value system and prevalent moral codes is termed by him as herd morality. He thinks that the European morality is herd morality where people are no better than animals, lacking any individual will and living by group instincts. He remonstrates European morality during that time as “herd animal morality - that is to say, as we understand the thing, only one kind of human morality beside which, before which, after which many other, above all higher, moralities are possible or ought to be possible” (Hollingdale, 1987. section 202). He was thoroughly dissatisfied with this narrow concept of freedom and free will: people who showed individual free will were associated with evil or bad conscience. Thus, according to Nietzsche, one needs to get rid of his herd morality and false concept of truth to emancipate his self. In his conception of self, Nietzsche is in favor of instinctual values, rather than spiritual or rational. The concept of sin makes us ashamed of our instincts and sexuality, the concept of faith discourages our curiosity and natural skepticism and the concept of pity encourages us to value and cherish weakness. That is why he doesn’t follow the path of the Enlightenment movement of Rousseau and Franklin: he couldn’t find much difference between the traditional value system and that of that of the Enlightenment era. The concept of sin, logic and reason are negated by Nietzsche and he expostulates that human beings are not always fair or rational: he finds nothing wrong in being unfair or illogical. He also believes that, “Among the things that can drive a thinker to despair is the knowledge that the illogical is necessary for man and that much good comes from it” (Faber, 1984. section 31). Thus, Nietzsche is a strong supporter of the instinctive nature of the human self and he is well aware that people fail to remain their natural self because the so called moral codes strangle them. similarly, Nietzsche’s ideal concept of self is possible, as he suggests, only when there is a cultural change and an emergence of “a more virile, warlike age” (Faber, 1984. section 283). He looks forward to an age where human beings are accepted as they are, with all their shortcomings; where their selves are free to “search for knowledge” and “wage wars for the sake of ideas and their consequences” (Faber, 1984. section 283). It is in this context that Nietzsche accepts the Greek model of self. As John S Moore remarks: “Both Nietzsche and Socrates denounce acquiescence in the dogmas of their age. Neither is tolerant of the complacent assumption of a right to one’s own opinions.” (John S Moore). The philosophical thoughts promulgated by Nietzsche have influenced many who succeeded him. His theories on the animal instincts of man were crucial for Sigmund Freud’s valuable contributions in the field of psycho-analysis. His style and perspectives have been instrumental for many philosophers for analyzing and evaluating various theories and come up with effective socio- religion critiques, self-assertion and originality. Works Cited Hollingdale, R. J. (1987). Friedrich Nietzsche. Beyond good and evil. Trans. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Faber, Marion. (1984). Friedrich Nietzsche. Human All Too Human. Trans. Nebraska: Uni of Nebraska. Kaufman, Walter. (1974). Friedrich Nietzsche. The Gay Science. Trans. New York: Vintage. Curry, Bill. The Perspectives of Nietzsche. 30 July 2007. . Moore, John S. Nietzsche’s Socrates. The Origin of Philosophy in Envy and Resentment. 30 July 2007. Read More