NIETZSCHE An Essay
NIETZSCHE [1844-1900]: This was also written the year after Grad School, circa 1978, by V.
Nietzsche looks at man through murky waters. He defends his renunciation of God by pointing out to us the evil in organized Western religions, in effect condemning God because of man`s shortcomings. He scoffs at all philosophers who came before him because all made the same fatal mistake, accepting the supposition that what is moral and ethical is known to man.
Nietzsche condemns all "a prioris"; nothing is given. It is just that man before him has not had the courage to go this far. Man has sacrificed his courage and freedom to such "a prioris". The question of the chicken and the egg, resolved by many, beginning with Aristotle, in favor of the chicken, is a universal not to be solved but to be scoffed at.
Man`s destiny is resolved by man, not by final cause. At best causality is unanswerable and man should no longer waste his time on unanswerable questions. At worst, the question is stagnation and directly attributable to man`s fear of being responsible for his existence.
For Nietzsche, the basis for human existence is will to power and the means for self-fulfillment is personal courage. The over-man, the future man who will accept his destiny [and Nietzsche believed he was a precursor,"A Stranger In A Strange Land "], will show concern for his fellow man but from a position of power and self confidence. It is Nietzsche`s belief that the "love for fellow man" so universally accepted as a basic pattern necessity of life is merely a projection of man`s fear of being hurt. He postulates a distinct difference between such morbid self-protection and that concern shown by the "over-man".
Although he goes to great lengths to contradict this feeling, it seems to the writer that, except for the honest respect given to others who live life according to his principles, Nietzsche translates his concern to all others as pity. [Since Nietzsche believes that pity is an emotion not worthy of the lowest animal, we may get an inkling of his view towards those of the human species who do not share his view of life.]
Such a position, of course, is also strikingly similar to the "we are right" communality expressed by members of Western organized religions, one of the cores which he so mercilessly attacked.
V
posted by V @ 1:33 PM
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