“God Is Dead”

Larval Stage

• Born the son of a Lutheran pastor in Röcken, Saxony, Friedrich Nietzsche was raised by female relatives after his father's death in 1849

• Influenced by Kant’s anti-materialism ideals, Darwin’s theories of natural selection, and the increase of European interest in the sciences

• Gave up his theological studies to study philosophy

Stuff He Wrote

• The Gay Science• Ecce Homo• Thus Spoke Zarathustra• The Dawn• Twilight Of The Idols• The Antichrist• Beyond Good And Evil• On The Genealogy Of Morals• Human, All Too Human• Will To Power• The Birth Of Tragedy• The Untimely Meditations• The Case Of Wagner

“Campaign Against Morality”

• Called himself an “immoralist”• Two types of morality:

– Master-morality• Good vs. Bad• Wealth, Strength, Power vs. Poverty, Weakness

– Slave-morality• Reaction to Master-morality• Good vs. Evil• Charity, Piety, Meekness, Submission vs. Selfishness, Wealth, Prosperity,

Materialism• Associated with the “weak” religions of Judaism and Christianity

• “Exceptional people” should not confine to common morals, but follow their own “inner law”

“God Is Dead”

• Developments in modern science, increasing focus on secular matters have “killed” the Christian God.

• Perspectivism– No coherent objective truth– Everything based on individual perspectives

• More extreme: Nihilism– Life has no purpose and everything sucks– Anarchy

• Übermensch– With God dead, Übermensch is the answer– Tied to the Earth rather than to God

• Do not turn from the Earth by those that claim divinity• Spirit is a part of the body

– Above good and evil

Will To Power

• Based off of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” idea

• Struggle to survive is secondary in animals, first is the will to expand one’s power

Why Should We Listen To This Guy?

That’s Why

Other Than That…

• He revolutionized philosophy by shattering the previously held idea that God was the purpose and source of everything– Meaning he actually thought outside the box

• He built off previously held ideas and remade them

Bibliography

• http://www.angelfire.com/ga/wkb/nietzsche.html

• http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/niet.htm

• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/#EarWri187187

• http://www.pitt.edu/~wbcurry/nietzsche.html