> Nietzsche believed in God. Sartre thinks that the only thing he needs is the
> consensus against Nietzshe to be an atheist. Nietzsche is an enigma to me.
> I don't know where I would be without him.
>
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shared Kierkegaard's conviction
that philosophy should deeply reflect the personal concerns of
individual human beings. But for Nietzsche, this entailed rejection of
traditional values, including the Christian religion. Nietzche's
declaration of "the death of god" draws attention to our culture's
general abandonment of any genuine commitment to the Christian faith.
According to Nietzsche's Die Götzendämmerung (Twilight of the Idols)
(1889), Western philosophers since Socrates represent a degeneration
of the natural strengths of humanity. A noble taste for heroic styles
of life can only be corrupted and undermined by the interminable
debates of dialectical reason. Traditional Western morality philosophy—
and the Christian religion in particular—therefore opposes a healthy
life, trying vainly to escape unfortunate circumstances by destroying
native human desires.
Only perverse tenacity and cowardice, he believed, encourages us to
cling to this servile morality, It would be more brave, more honest,
and much more noble to cut ourselves loose and dare to live in a world
without God. In such a world, death is not to be feared, since it
represents nothing more significant than the fitting conclusion of a
life devoted to personal gain.
All of this is, of course, a variety of nihilism. Nietzsche insists
that there are no rules for human life, no absolute values, no
certainties on which to rely. If truth can be achieved at all, it can
come only from an individual who purposefully disregards everything
that is traditionally taken to be "important." Such a super-human
person {Ger. Ãœbermensch}, Nietzsche supposed, can live an authentic
and successful human life.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche shared Kierkegaard's conviction
that philosophy should deeply reflect the personal concerns of
individual human beings. But for Nietzsche, this entailed rejection of
traditional values, including the Christian religion. Nietzche's
declaration of "the death of god" draws attention to our culture's
general abandonment of any genuine commitment to the Christian faith.
According to Nietzsche's Die Götzendämmerung (Twilight of the Idols)
(1889), Western philosophers since Socrates represent a degeneration
of the natural strengths of humanity. A noble taste for heroic styles
of life can only be corrupted and undermined by the interminable
debates of dialectical reason. Traditional Western morality philosophy—
and the Christian religion in particular—therefore opposes a healthy
life, trying vainly to escape unfortunate circumstances by destroying
native human desires.
Only perverse tenacity and cowardice, he believed, encourages us to
cling to this servile morality, It would be more brave, more honest,
and much more noble to cut ourselves loose and dare to live in a world
without God. In such a world, death is not to be feared, since it
represents nothing more significant than the fitting conclusion of a
life devoted to personal gain.
All of this is, of course, a variety of nihilism. Nietzsche insists
that there are no rules for human life, no absolute values, no
certainties on which to rely. If truth can be achieved at all, it can
come only from an individual who purposefully disregards everything
that is traditionally taken to be "important." Such a super-human
person {Ger. Ãœbermensch}, Nietzsche supposed, can live an authentic
and successful human life.
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5v.htm
