Nietzsche is considered the first philosopher to recognize the main flaw of modernity – viewing science, morality, or religion as the basis of meaning. Instead, he versioned art as what needed to be the answer. He rejected the idea of a neutral stance or the lack of perspective. He insisted that life is irrational, and the desire to control and overpower others defined the difference between God and evil (Soccio, 2015). Nietzsche deemed Western culture hypocritical in its attempt to eliminate dangerous desires by enforcing opposite attitudes. He believed that since science and technology began to be equated to God, then God himself is dead, depriving the universe of purpose or morale (Soccio, 2015). He defined the idea of slave morality and its dangers and master morality as a code of honor delivered by aesthetic terms.
- Why did Nietzsche believe that nihilism would be prevalent in our present?
- He assumed that people would begin to perceive religious values as empty and meaningless. Since God’s replacement is science, offering no purpose, the sense of a meaningless universe will prevail, leading to nihilism.
- Why did Nietzsche define slave morality as alien to human nature?
- He claimed that this behavior is only a reaction to external stimuli that are produced by guidelines from others and within “the herd,” never an original impulse.
Reference
Soccio, D. J. (2015). Archetypes of wisdom: An introduction to philosophy (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.