Ascetic Idea by Nietzsche - Essay Example

Nietzsche discusses not what the ascetic ideal has done, but what it actually means. He views it as meaning different things to different groups who have used it. For instance, artists use it as something which they use to prop up their art. Nietzsche states that it means “nothing or too many things.” 

If nothing is really learned, then nothing can be similar to too many things. Nietzsche then states that philosophers use it to attempt to at some sort of higher learning or knowledge. He states that to philosophers it is a “sense and instinct for the most favorable conditions of higher spirituality.” The most favorable conditions for a philosopher would lead to the philosopher being able to discern the most knowledge since philosophers are lovers of knowledge. Nietzsche also considered philosophers to have posted first as the ascetic priest because there would have been a basic mistrust of philosophers at the time they first existed.

The true ascetic priest would have used the ascetic idea to appeal to a supreme sense of power. In this scenario, the ascetic priest attempted to appeal to those in the most unfortunate situations as savior figures.