Nietzsche

H I S T O R Y

O F

P O L I T I C A L T H O U G H T

–

N I E T Z S C H E

2

Today’s puzzle 2

Should government ensure value pluralism or should it ensure a definite standard of values?

Key themes and concepts 3

·Revolt in Morality

·Secularisation

·Nihilism

·Value Pluralism

4Nietzsche (1844-1900)

5

'Where is God? I will tell you, we have killed him, you and I, all of us, we are his murderers. ... We have wiped away the entire horizon, we have sent the earth plunging continually backward,

sideward, in all directions, is there still any up or down? ... I have come too early, my time is not yet. ... This deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars, and yet they have

done it themselves.'

The parable of the madman (1882)

6

Secularisation 6

Truth = God

Science vs. Belief

Enlightenment rationalism: reason, empirical evidence,

experiment

'God is dead, but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown.'

Enlightenment:

Earlier times:

undermines

7

Nihilism 7

Truth = God

Science

Enlightenment rationalism: reason, empirical evidence,

experiment

Enlightenment:

Earlier times:

enlightenment rationalism remains to be informed by residues of

Platonism and Christian philosophy;

the truth is not sought, rather, ideals of purity and universality

are projected on the world:

good = pure, constant, truth, universal, useful, beautiful

evil = opposite thereof

Nihilism: our values are grounded in nothingness...

8

Jheronimus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Desires (1480-1490)Value pluralism

Nietzsche's view of the self 9

Overcoming chaos through hierarchy:

-Plato - bronze,silver, gold-Hobbes et al. - institutionalise inequality

prior to living in society, the self is naturally independent of chaos

Nietzsche:

-continual interplay of domination and submission

prior to living in society, the self is constituted by chaos

the will to power=

an expression of power that follows from the

position of the self within the unequal relations that

constitute it

10

Revolt in morality 10

Masters vs. Slaves

Noble, mighty, high-placed;war, adventure, hunting,

dancing=

Low-minded, common, pleibian(according to the masters)=

'Good' vs. 'Bad'

hatred of their powerlessness and suffering causes ressentiment:

this Jewish hatred is turned into vengefulness through the 'redeemer' Jezus of Nazareth

being a 'lamb by choice' is seen as 'good' (priestly morality)

those who see themselves as 'good' are seen now as 'evil'

11

Alienation 11

Levelling of European man...

12

Alienation 12

Erich Heckel,

Girl Suffering,

(1914)

13

The ambiguity of morality 13

‘It goes without saying that I do not deny -unless I am a fool- that many actions called immoral ought to be avoided and resisted, or that many called moral ought to be done and encouraged, but I think that the one should be avoided and the other encouraged for other reasons than hitherto.

We have to learn to think differently –in order at last, perhaps very late on, to attain even more: to feel differently.’

Key themes and concepts 14

·Revolt in Morality

·Secularisation

·Nihilism

·Value Pluralism

15

Today’s puzzle 15

Should government ensure value pluralism or should it

ensure a definite standard of values?