Friedrich Nietzsche & his Philosophy.

Friedrich Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche, born on October 1844 in Germany, was a classical scholar, philosopher, and a critic of Western religion and its culture. Of all the modern thinkers, he became one of the most influential. Nietzsche tried to unmask the motives that underlie in the traditional Western religion. He thought of the consequences of the victory of the Enlightenment’s secularism, and he expressed it by saying “God is dead”. He said it in a way that it determined the agenda of many Europe’s most-celebrated intellectuals – theologians, philosophers, poets, and novelists – after his death. Even though he was strongly against nationalism, anti-Semitism, and power politics, his name was later invoked by fascists to promote what he despised.

Nietzsche’s association with fascism.

The association of Nietzsche’s name with Adolf Hitler and fascism owes much to his sister, Elisabeth. She had married Bernhard Förster, a leading chauvinist – someone who is displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism – and anti-Semite. After his suicide in 1889, Elisabeth worked to reform Nietzsche’s message into that of Förster. Elisabeth maintained control over Nietzsche’s estate, and produced collections of his “works” consisting of his thrown away notes. Also, important sidenote: her enthusiasm for Hitler, linked Nietzsche’s name with that of the dictator in the public mind.

Nietzsche and Christianity.

Nietzsche took a great interest in Christianity and Judaism, its allied religion. However, his interest was very negative. In his final book, Antichrist – the title already sets the tone for this indication – Nietzsche wrote that Christianity was weak, Nihilistic, and self-indulgent. Nietzsche calls it “the greatest misfortune of mankind so far”. However, Nietzsche did appreciate the Old Testament. He liked the power of the language and the concept of a “God of – and for – the Jews”, it was a god appropriate for given people on a given time, one who rewarded and punished in equal measures.

The New Testament was a completely different matter. The most dominant factor was that the historical facts were incorrect. He also believed that the entire concept of an actual-existing, all powerful God is nonsense. Stories about holy visions, miracles and redemption are nothing more than vulgar superstition. However, Nietzsche was not against a god and its principles. He thought that every culture needed to create their own concept of religion. Their religion should be a formalized recognition of respect towards their culture’s highest values. Nietzsche believed that Western Europeans had failed immensely at this task, he wrote:

“There is no excuse whatever for their failure to dispose of such a sickly and senile product of decadence – as the Christian God –. But a curse lies upon them for this failure: they have absorbed sickness, old age, and contradiction into all their instincts — and since then they have not created another god. Almost two thousand years — and not one new god!”

 

“God Is Dead.”

Nietzsche’s announcement of the death of God was to reclaim all the present values. Each individual needs to reclaim the responsibility of their actions and gain back their freedom. This teaching has been expressed in the Amor Fati. He claims that everyone has the task of decorating their abundance of life-force in such a way that they become a tolerant person for their environment. A tolerant person is not necessary someone who is pleasant and nice, but someone who radiates a lust for life. In other words, someone who has sublimated their pain and despair over the death of God in the joy that “new horizons” are now possible.

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

 

Nietzsche’s last piece “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”.

Nietzsche’s final piece was his attempt at restoring the sanctity and dignity of human existence in a spiritually, modern world. Nietzsche believed that this piece was not meant for everyone. Only those who have the ears for Zarathustra were meant to follow this piece. The people who have the ears are supposed to: “Lure many away from the herd” – as Nietzsche wrote in his book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. Nietzsche believed that we do not need a new God, we need a Superman (an Übermensch). He does not want us to try and become Superman, but instead to act as bridges for the Superman. We need to try to live as higher types of being, so we can pave the way for even more higher types that will emerge in the future. 

“And once you are awake, you shall remain awake eternally.”

 

Final years of Nietzsche.

After losing total control of his mental faculties, Nietzsche collapsed in the streets of Turin, Italy, in January 1889. His friend Franz Overbeck, a Christian theologian, brought Nietzsche back to Basel, Germany. Basel is where Nietzsche spent his final 11 years of his life in total mental darkness. At first, he was in a Basel asylum, then in Naumburg to live under his mother’s care. After the passing of his mother in 1897, he moved to Weimar to live in his sister’s care, where he died in 1900. The reason of his passing was due to an atypical general paralysis caused by syphilis. Later diagnosis concluded that he also had a tumour behind his right eye.

“One has to take a somewhat bold and dangerous line with this existence: especially as, whatever happens, we are bound to lose it.”