The Philosophy of Nietzsche

The Problem: Western Civilization Nietzsche deemed traditional forms of religious and philosophical problems to be inadequate to the task of a civilization he saw as falling apart.

The Loss of Meaning Nietzsche prophesied the advent of a period of nihilism, with the death of God and the demise of metaphysics, and the discovery of the inability of science to yield anything like absolute knowledge.

What Can We Know? Nietzsche said there can no such thing as knowing in the Platonic sense. All “knowing” is inventing, and all inventing is lying.

The Will To Power Nietzsche is saying that the human impulse to freedom is the impulse to say what matters for ourselves, rather than believing the “lies” of someone else.

The Problem of Language Nietzsche believed that if truth is unknowable, then we should make up our own truth rather than believe someone else’s story.

The Problem of Language For Nietzsche there is no ultimate truth that we can know, only interpretations.

The Overman In overcoming the traditional stories, such a person was self-made and free from the tyranny of others, especially in the guise of religion and dogma.

The Death of God It is interesting that Nietzsche declares the death of God on the cusp of a century in Europe where it did seem to many people that God had disappeared and left humanity to itself.

Eternal Recurrence One possibility: We should not be putting all of our “eggs” in to the “basket” of the future.

Summary Studying Nietzsche reminds us not to take ourselves and our views of the truth too seriously.