Nihilism

1. Nihilism Nietzsche’s Post-Modernism

2. Nihilism: that which is “other-worldly” or “anti-life” • Nietzsche was not a nihilist • He would have suggested that the values we hold (like truth, religion and morality) are themselves nihilistic, and self-undermining

3. The ultimate value is life itself. • Nietzsche rejects the preference for some other existence (that is “other-worldly” or “anti-life”) like heaven or a desire for a classless society. • That “other world” is not better than this life. • His philosophy is a rejection of Nihilism – he would promote an aggressive acceptance of the world and ourselves.

4. “God is Dead” • Nietzsche’s belief in the moral state of the modern world • He would offer a prophet who praised this world rather than an “other world.” • This rejection of “other worldliness” stems back to Plato. • Yet, unlike Plato and Socrates, Nietzsche would not uphold “reason” because he saw it as another way of “escaping life.”

5. “Epistemological Nihilism” • “There is no truth” (in the Platonic sense) and our “greatest truths are only errors that we cannot give up.” • “Perspectivism”: all of our knowledge is gleaned through one (or another) perspective/point of view • There is no “objective truth” – there is no unbiased point of view • Ideally, we should try to appreciate as many perspectives as possible.

6. amorfati • “Love of fate” – Nietzsche’s most positive outlook on life • It doesn’t mean that one relinquishes the responsibility to “become who you are.” • Fate is not blind resignation, but the acceptance of who you are and what you have to do with your life. • It is also an acceptance of the inevitable: of death.

7. Übermensch • The “last man” • Self-contented • Self-reliant • Self-satisfied modern man • Free of resentment • Wholly independent of the “herd” • Evolution of man’s spirituality • Passionate life/passionate attachments – energy

8. Apollonian vs. Dionysian • Reason • Emotion