Transcript Nietzsche - Def

Nietzsche
Philosophy Through the Centuries
BRENT SILBY
Unlimited (UPT)
Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
“God is Dead” – Nietzsche (1882)
Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
Most famous for writings on Existentialism and Postmodernism
Existentialism?
What is Existentialism?
Suggestion that Philosophical thought should deal with existence
of the individual person
The alternative style of Philosophy focuses on objective truths
of Mathematics and Science
But Existentialists think these don’t get to the heart of human
experience.
Existentialists focus on subjective experience of the individual
They focus on the individual’s emotions, actions, and thoughts
Postmodern Philosophy
What is Postmodern Philosophy?
Critical of the traditional structure and foundation of Philosophy
Postmodernists are skeptical and nihilistic towards many
assumptions Philosophers make, for example:
“That one form of government can be shown to be better than another”
Postmodern Philosophers believe there is no absolute truth
Nietzsche
Nietzsche was a postmodern existentialist philosopher
Reading his work, you will not find standard arguments that
have a logical form.
He contradicts himself all through his work
- Though, this contradiction could be appropriate to the type
of work he is doing.
Nietzsche
He seems to tell us that there is no absolute truth
- Truth is subjective
This is to say that truth depends on your point of view
Problem: How can it be true that there is no truth?
- This problem is a reflexive paradox
Nietzsche
Perhaps he was saying that there is no rationally discoverable
structure to the world.
But if so, is it rational to believe this statement?
Problem with subjectivism is that it all comes down to personal
point of view.
Its all interpretation.
But an interpretation can’t really be true, its just a way to represent
something – to understand
Nietzsche
Sometimes we hear people saying things like:
“Its true for me that God exists”
But we don’t want to live in a world where truth just becomes a
matter of opinion. Imagine saying “Its not true for me that
Jupiter exists”
Doesn’t make sense !
Nietzsche
Where’s all this come from?
Nietzsche thinks it comes from the death of God and the resulting
nihilism
Nietzsche and the Death of God
Where has God gone? … I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his
murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the
sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun?
Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually
falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left?
Are we not straying … through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?
Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be
lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying
God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition?
Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we,
murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that
the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives.
Who will wipe this blood off us?
With what water could we purify ourselves?
Nietzsche
So what was that all about?
Nietzsche is worried that God is dead in our modern world view.
He thinks rationalism and science killed him.
It’s as if we have learned so much about the world that we don’t
need God anymore.
Nietzsche thought that the idea of God provided a moral, which
gave us an approach to living life.
Nietzsche
He worries that if we remove God from our world, we also lose
morality and purpose to life.
This leads to a nihilistic situation
- our lives are not constrained by morality or guided
by a faith based sense of purpose
Nihilism
Nihilism is the view that life has no objective meaning
- There is no purpose to life
- There is no comprehensible truth
- Nothing has any real value
With no God there is no objective moral standard and no real
meaning to life
- Life is meaningless
- Everything is permitted
Nihilism
Nihilism is the view that our existence is insignificant and has
no meaning. We pass through the universe in a blink of an eye for
no real reason. It just happens.
Eternal Recurrence
Nietzsche argued that the universe will continue to recur an
infinite number of times.
This means we live our lives over and over again forever
Why?
If space and matter are finite, but time is infinite, then everything
that can possibly happen will happen, again and again and again.
Eternal Recurrence
Given what we know about physics, is eternal recurrence
a possibility?
First law of thermodynamics:
Heat and work are forms of energy transfer.
Total energy in a closed system remains constant
Second law of thermodynamics
A closed system evolves towards maximum entropy (i.e. uniform temperature).
A system in equilibrium (maximum entropy) has no energy available to do work.
[draw bucket of cold water with hot stone – steam drive engine for work, but
stone and water reach equilibrium, no energy left for work in this closed system]
Nihilism
History and future of Universe
- Big Bang – 13 billion years ago (13x 109)
- Age of the stars and planets
- Degenerate Age – 1014 to 1040 years in future
Galaxy formation ceases. Planets and stars orbits decay
By end of epoch, all protons decayed
- Black Hole Age – 1040 to 10100 years in future
Most black holes disintegrate by end of this epoch
- Dark Age – 10100 to 10150 years in future
Remaining black holes disintegrate
- Photon Age – 10150 to ??? in future
Universe reaches a low energy state, i.e. maximum entropy
Increasing
entropy
Nihilism
Easy to slip into a nihilistic world view when see how insignificant
we are!
Nietzsche is sounding a warning.
He is warning us against slipping into nihilism.
So, what does Nietzsche propose to get over this?
Ubermensch
Nietzsche proposes a new set of values
- values that do not rely on God
He suggests that we humans can transcend our current state and
become “Ubermensche”
- Uberman
- some have translated to “Superman”
- some have translated to “overman”
- most likely meaning is “beyond man”
Ubermensch
Christians look to other worlds, non earthly existence for hope
and value
Nietzsche suggests that Ubermensch is the meaning of earth
Ubermensche is the creator of new values
Here, Nietzsche has overcome the problem of God’s death and
nihilism
How?
The Ubermensche creates new values which fill the void of
nihilsm.
Ubermensch
We don’t need God!
We can create our own set of values and purpose!
Ubermensch
Humanity’s first goal is the movement towards becoming
ubermensch
Nietzsche seems to be saying that we should build a new society
of ubermensch (or supermen) to take the place of the old style
human
Ubermensch
Does he mean that we should embark on a program of eugenics?
- selective breeding of humans such as in Nazi Germany
Jury may be out on that, but I don’t think this is what he meant
He was probably referring to cultural rather than genetic traits
- with a change in culture we could encourage humans
to become ubermensch and transcend humanity’s earlier
religious or valueless existence
Ubermensch
Despite this, Nietzsche was considered the official Philosopher of
the “Third Reich”
- This was long after his death.
- His works were misinterpreted by the Nazi’s as in support
of their ideals
Ubermensch
Why?
After his death, Nietzsche’s sister re-edited his writings to
support the Aryan ideal of racial purity and superiority
Ubermensch
Hitler in Nietzsche museum, viewing bust of Nietzsche
Ubermensch
Nietzsche died in 1900 after ten years of insanity. He was in a
vegetative state for most of that time.
His sister cared for him, and allowed tourists to come in to view
the great Philosopher
That’s how it ended for Nietzsche
“God is Dead” – Nietzsche (1882)
“Nietzsche is Dead” – God (1900)
Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY
Produced at Unlimited (UPT)
Christchurch, New Zealand
www.unlimited.school.nz